Cursed
by PiLamdaOd
Summary: After a vicious attack, Ruby struggles to control the new terrible urges inside her. But as students are attacked left and right professor Goodwich must come to terms with her past if she is to stop the new predator stalking the halls of Beacon.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note (2/20/15):**

**The first person bit was an experiment to see how well it would work to switch to Ruby's mind every so often. I ended up not liking the results so it doesn't appear in any subsequent chapters. I just thought I'd give you a warning if you're turned off by first person or pov switching.**

* * *

A serene night breeze flowed through the window, carrying with it the scents of the forest. Four young huntresses in training slumbered peacefully, blissfully unaware of the fate about to befall one of their own.

Silent, like a shadow, it drifted into the room; this form of a bat stirred none from their sleep. It gripped the soft sheet suspended over it's prey. So young, so innocent, a beautiful thing to corrupt. If it wasn't for the fact she was after someone much sweeter, this little rose would make a wonderful catch. But, there would be others. For now, this child had a part to play in her little game.

Once certain the other three were fully captured by sleep, she released her grip and descended upon the girl.

* * *

My wonderful dream slipped from my grasp. I'm not sure what it was about, something to do with brave heroes saving someone in need. All I could remember was that it made me feel warm and happy inside. A sinking feeling pulled me awake, like a foreign weight pressed into my mattress. My silver eyes drifted open, being so groggy at first I didn't register the invader kneeling over me, straddling me, grinning down at me. Confusion switched to surprise and anger, I at first I thought one of my teammates was in bed with me, but when my mind cleared I quickly realized that I did not recognize this woman. Before I could yell out a powerful hand clasped over my mouth, stopping all sound and cries for help. I struggled, slamming my clenched fist into her chest, she only smiled, my fight merely amused this woman. She stared at me with her deep blue eyes, like a deep, dark, ocean that peered into my soul. They were so beautiful, all I wanted to do was stare into them for just a little while longer.

My resisting weakened, a grin grew across the woman's face. She whispered to me. Her voice, part of me wanted to drink in every syllable, the rest, wanted to cower in fear.

"Shh, stay quiet. We wouldn't want to wake your friends now would we?"

I wanted to yell at this person, to call out for my teammates, for my sister, but nothing would come. My body betrayed me, holding firm against my every desire even as my arms fell lifeless to my side. I felt my heart racing, a cold wave of fear swept through my body. Every battle I was ever in, creatures of grimm, robots, criminals, none of that caused the same horror I felt at this moment, from this woman.

"Oh young rose, you are a sweet thing aren't you. Such a shame really."

Her cold finger slid down my side, pressing through the thin material of my tank top, causing a shiver to pass down my spine. She pulled her long finger up to my shoulder, hooking it onto the fabric trap of my tank top, pulling it aside.

"But, oh well. This isn't about you at all. I just wanted to leave a small gift for my little witch, and I just knew you would be perfect."

Streaks of red, like bloody stars, spread out from her pupils across her deep blue eyes. They grew until her eyes became like that of the grimm. From her toothy grin, two long fangs descended from her gums, like the canines of a wolf. She pressed her palms flat on the bed to either side of me and leaned in, pressing her moist lips to the skin of my neck. Her teeth slowly pressed into my skin, searing pain shot through me as the upper layer of flesh began to sever. Bit by bit the foreign bodies dug deeper into skin, tearing open my neck for the invader in my bed.

I wanted to cry out in pain as my flesh tore, but only muffled moans came as my lips were clamped shut, unwilling to let my sleeping teammates know of the horror occurring only feet away.

When the teeth could pierce no further, they retracted, allowing my blood to flow into the awaiting mouth. With every gulp my world was filled with agony. Every gulp pulled more precious blood from my body.

The blood loss caused my head to spin and I knew in that moment I was about to die, helpless, my rescue, blissfully sleeping away, unable to help me. Just as I was sure I was going to pass out, she stopped. Her body straightened up, that cold finger ran along my wound before she pulled it to her lips. She licked the blood off her finger and looked down on me with her burning red eyes. That look, it said she was far from finished with me.

I turned my gaze toward a sleeping Yang, silently pleading that my sister would awaken and come to my aid. A powerful hand gripped my jaw and viciously tugged it so I was staring back at my abuser. Her sadistic smile parted and she rolled her tongue free. With her free hand, she dragged a long red painted nail down the length of her tongue. Crimson blood began oozing from the growing wound. When she finished, her mouth sealed and she leaned closer to my face. She hovered a hair's breath from my lips, the sickening, rusty, metallic odor of blood invaded my nose. The woman's toothy smile returned, her teeth her red with blood.

Slowly, she closed the distance; the moist, foreign lips pressed against mine. Pushing rubbing, the foul lips pulled apart my own. I wanted to fight, I wanted to resist; every part of me felt awful and violated. The hand on my jaw shifted and pinched open my mouth, allowing the saliva and blood soaked tongue to invade my mouth. It wormed around my open orifice like a snake forcing it's way deep.

I began to cry into her mouth. I couldn't fight this violation, this, repulsing kiss seemed to never end.

Her blood and saliva began to pool in the back of my throat. Try as I might, the biological urge to swallow was overpowering. I gulped.

The burring. Oh god the burning. Like searing hot spikes plunged into the lining of my throat. Moving down to my stomach the pain was overwhelming. The only feeling in the world was fire in my body, forcing it's way to the surface.

I barely registered when the woman's lips left mine. I think she was giggling at me as tears streamed down my face. My body began convulsing violently as she forced a vise-like grip upon my arms, preventing me from flailing in my pain.

My world blackened, replaced only by agony.

* * *

The sudden chirping of an alarm clock jostled Ruby Rose from her slumber. Heart pounding, a vivid nightmare hung in her head. This fifteen year old brunet could not recall the details of her dream, but the helplessness that came from the overpowering intruder still haunted her.

Yang gave her sister an amused look as the under-slept team leader flopped out of her top bunk, crashing to the floor below. Normally Ruby was the first member of her team awake each morning, the young leader was always eager to start each day. It was this eagerness that her other teammate, Blake, did not share. The dark-haired faunus never failed to be difficult to rise from her slumber. Weiss on the other hand, while not sharing her partner's eagerness, made it a point each day to be risen, primped, and nothing short of perfect as early as possible. With every task the heiress completed, no detail was too insignificant to ignore. As far as she was concerned, there was no point in doing something if she was not going to put in her best effort.

Slowly pulling herself to her feet, Ruby dragged her tired form to the closet on her side of the room and retrieved her toiletries. She flung her towel over her shoulder and sauntered out towards the bathroom.

The warm water of her shower flowed down her form; strawberry scent of her conditioner filled the air as it's pink suds attempted to scrub away the previous night's worries. Throughout her extra long shower, the young huntress's mind continued to flash back to nightmare. Every gulp, forcing more of her life giving blood from her body. Her friends, so close, yet unaware of her plight. The pain, it felt so real.

She shuddered at the confusing bundle of memories. As much as the dream still troubled her, playing over and over in her mind, so many details eluded her. What did the woman look like? Why couldn't she call out or fight back? Was she bound?

The confusing nature of this dream and the quest to make sense of it kept Ruby in her shower much longer than she intended. She knew this would be a rush to finish getting ready for the day.

After her shower Ruby began her regimen of brushing her teeth. She squeezed her mint toothpaste onto her red brush before putting it onto her mouth. Lifting her head to face the mirror opposite the sink she spotted something, off. On her neck, just above her left shoulder were a series of red welts. Her brush nearly slipped from her lips as she quickly leaned in close to the mirror to examine the sight.

'_It couldn't be there. Right where she… Where she bit me in the dream.' _I felt my stomach drop when I saw it. '_No, it had to be a coincidence. Everything was fine. Everything was okay. It was just a dream, nothing to worry about.' _My rationalization did little to calm my quickened heart rate.

'_Ya, that's was it. Just a dream. Those welts must have been bug bites. Yup, totally just simple mosquitoes. We shouldn't sleep with the windows open anymore. They must have bit me during my sleep, causing me to dream about being bitten, by a scary lady with fangs.'_ I tried to reassure myself. Although, just the thought of that dream and that woman made me shudder. I've never been so rattled by a dream before.

Being pinned to my own bed, being so helpless, not since mom died have I felt that way before. After that I decided it would be best to try and push that dream out of my mind.

Soon I returned to the room and proceeded to get dressed in my school uniform. Yang and the others were busy enough that they failed to notice me hastily throwing on my clothes for the day. The blouse and jacket worked well enough to cover the bright red welts. If that failed to adequately hide it then my hood and cape should offer enough protection.

* * *

"Whatcha thinkin 'bout?" Yang leaned over to pester her younger sister, who thus far had only used her fork to pick at her lunch.

"Oh, nothing. Just tired." The brunet lied. The last thing she wanted to do was bring up that she was really, against all her efforts, still thinking about her visceral nightmare.

"Well that's lame. You should get more sleep." Yang replied before shoveling a heaping spoonful of something Ruby could not identify into her mouth. Yang then proceed to boisterously tell a tale to her teammates before bothering to swallow. None of her teammates had the capability to understand her through the green and white mass currently occupying her mouth.

Weiss scooted closer to her partner and leaned closer before softly speaking to Ruby.

"Seriously, what is the matter? You have been acting, off, all morning."

"Really Weiss, its fine." Ruby tried to reassure her. "I just had trouble sleeping, that's all." She put on her best fake smile in an effort to reassure her friend.

Weiss stared at Ruby with narrowed eyes, trying to determine if it was worth pressing the issue. The heiress knew the scythe-wielder well enough to tell when something was bothering her. However, the last thing she needed was for her partner to shut down if over interrogated. "Okay than. Just get more sleep in the future, okay." She said, deciding it would be better to continue this line of questioning later.

* * *

Mighty oaks shattered into a cloud of splinters as the Ursa crashed through them into the clearing. The imposing black furred beast with great bone plates towered over the girl in red standing alone in the grass. Earlier that day team RWBY along with many other first years were dropped into the Grimm infested forest for what the instructors called "Live Combat Training." Simply put, each team was placed where they were to likely encounter a creature of Grimm and would have to deal with it accordingly.

Ruby Rose held her matching red scythe off to the side in her left hand as she looked up at the oncoming would fear this beast, a creature fueled by hate and rage, it's only goal to consume and kill. But not this girl, evil never frightened her. In fact, evil should be frightened of her. A grin grew across her seemingly innocent face. This is what she lived for, fighting monsters. Creatures of pure evil preyed on the weak and innocent, and Ruby Rose was here to stop them.

In one fluid motion Ruby turned and fired her scythe, launching herself into the air, the raging beast following her with it's gaze. Ruby lived for these moments, the feeling of flying and the joy that came with fighting for good. As the girl in red descended the creature of grimm snarled and reared up on it's hind legs, ready to strike at the oncoming prey. Suddenly an immense impact struck the beast in it's side, launching it off to Ruby's right. Too focused on the girl in red, this beast failed to notice the trap.

The scythe wielder came to rest where the ursa once stood, an area now occupied by her sister and teammate. When the ursa came to a halt the remaining members of RWBY were upon it. With a flurry of expertly placed blows the beast, was no more.

"Go team RWBY!" Cheered the enthusiastic team leader throwing her hands in the air. "The unstoppable team of huntresses has once again triumphed over their powerful enemy."

Their young leader's zealous spiel elicited a series of smirks from her amused teammates. She ever failed to bring a certain level of enthusiasm to every mission, a fact that every member of the team enjoyed.

Soon after their defeat of the ursa, the members of team RWBY airlifted back to Beacon. But not before being lectured on their "overcomplicated tactics needed to take down what should have been a simple target." As professor Goodwitch put it.

* * *

In the following two days, Ruby felt herself begin to feel worse and worse. As her dream and it's effects steadily faded from her mind, her body on the other hand was another story. When she awoke the sun streaming into her room felt like a torch to her skin. Sitting in the sunlight caused Ruby to feel like she was going to overheat. Luckily, her normal attire that consisted of a red cloak and hood provided some degree of protection.

Unfortunately, her morning classes usually had her bathed in sunlight. After enduring her first morning lecture, she made it a point to chose a different seating arrangement for the foreseeable future.

Eventually her body felt almost drained of energy. She barely had the energy or desire to attempt her homework. Eventually opting for simply going to sleep early.

By the third day Ruby reached a breaking point. During her first lecture she found her hands beginning to shake uncontrollably. It started slowly at first, feeling like a simple caffeine buzz isolated to her hands. But soon the shaking grew to the point where Ruby could no longer take notes. Or in her case doodle.

The feeling of being spent was the most intense it had ever been and so far no amount of snacks appeared to make her feel better. Deciding that her next few classes would prove to be an impossible hurdle, Ruby opted instead to quietly return to her room after her first lecture to sleep. Not that she told her teammates, the last thing Ruby wanted was a lecture from Weiss about the importance of attending class.

The ill huntress flopped into her bed the moment she returned to her room. Being too eager for sleep she even neglected to remove her shoes. She lay face down in her bed as the world proceeded to spin around her.

* * *

I was jostled from my sleeping reprieve by the sound of the room's door closing. I sat up and turned to face whoever had just entered. Big mistake. The sudden rise caused the my world to whirlwind around me even faster than before.

"Oh, Ruby what are you doing here?" Weiss said while scouring her desk for something.

I don't know why, but I knew I needed to get closer to her, like some force was yearning me to touch the heiress. I threw my legs over the side of my bed only to lose my balance and slip from the hanging contraption and crash into the floor.

"Geeze Ruby, watch what you're doing." Weiss snarked barely sparing a glance from her methodical search through her desk drawers.

I tried to stand but my now wobbling legs would not obey me. Falling to my hands and knees my ears started ringing and a black haze started to close in around me. But Weiss, there she was, only feet away. I needed to get to her, to feel her.

"Ruby?" her look turned from one of confusion to one of concern. I'm not sure what she said after that, the ringing in my ears grew so encompassing all I could hear was my own breathing. She halted her search and approached me. Looking down on me with genuine worry she opened her mouth to speak again. By now most of my vision was consumed by the darkness and the undeniable drive inside of me Weiss would be my relief.

She knelt down and gripped my shoulders in her slender fingers. Pulling me closer her lips moved once again, she looked so scared. I stared blankly back at her, unable to perceive any sound other than the overpowering ring. Then I smelled something, something wonderful. It was as if Weiss's normal scent was now mixed with a sweet yet tangy aroma. I knew I wanted more.

Nearly all of my vision gone I leaned in closer and collapsed into the crook of the heiress's neck. The amazing aroma consumed my scenes as my world turned to black.

* * *

Euphoric, wonderful. I'd never felt so much pleasure before, ever. With every gulp this amazing nectar filled my mouth and flowed into my body. I could feel it slide to my core, radiating warmth and pure ecstasy to every corner of my form. I never wanted it to stop.

The more I drank the more my world began to clear, and I think I could hear, maybe yelling? I wasn't sure. But what was now crystal clear to me now was the source of this heavenly liquid was fighting to pull away. So I bit down harder hoping that it would never go away.

That is when the realization hit me like a punch to the gut. '_Struggling? Biting? Oh god!'_

I threw my eyes open and to my horror I saw my mouth firmly clamped onto the flesh of the right side of Weiss's neck! I shoved myself off of her and watched as she flopped backward onto the floor, blood seeping from the tear in her neck. A tear I made.

In a state of shocked horror I sat there just, staring at Weiss's limp body. Soon it became clear that a warm liquid still covered my mouth. I reached a shaky hand to my mouth and touched it to the liquid. Looking down my hand was covered in Weiss's blood. The cold wave of dread flowed over my form.

Realizing the horror of what I had done, I screamed.

* * *

**Author's Notes:  
**

**This is just a fun little story I've been thinking about for a while now. I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for reading.  
**

**As always, feel free to follow and review. **

**The reviews are always my favorite part.**


	2. Chapter 2

A crimson tide flowed across the wood paneling, permeating every crevice and crack. The fibers eagerly absorbed the foreign liquid, retaining the blood as a testament to what occurred in this room.

Ruby sat, horror struck by what she had done. Her partner, her friend, neck torn open by Ruby's own teeth, laid out in front of her. The heiress's once pale lips turned to blue, the loss of so much vital blood starving her body of oxygen. A labored breath broke Ruby from her trance, Weiss needed her help. Rushing up to the bleeding girl and clamped her left hand to the wound and her other hand to the heiress's face.

"Weiss!" Ruby pleaded. "Oh no no no no no." Years of training seemed to have abandoned her in that moment. Battlefield first aid was supposed to be second nature to the young huntress, yet now, seeing her friend bleeding out because of her own actions, locked those memories away from her.

"Please Weiss, please wake up. Don't do this." Tears trickled down Ruby's cheeks, dripping upon the girl in white. Lifting her hand, Ruby saw her hand now stained crimson with blood.

"There's so much blood Weiss, what do I do? Please tell me. Please." Ruby wished desperately for Weiss to open her eyes and yell at her once more. To criticize her for forgetting something so basic as how to treat a cut.

Slowly those lost memories seeped into her consciousness. Pressure, she needed pressure to stop the bleeding. Darting her silver eyes around the normally peaceful dorm room, Ruby desperately looked for anything she could press to the wound.

Next to her, on Weiss's desk, she spied it. A small blue box of tissues, it would have to do. Scurrying over to the wooden desk, she clawed for the box. Violently, she tore the thin cardboard asunder before smashing it's contents into the gaping tear in Weiss's neck.

The once white sheets soon turned the bright red of blood. Ruby knew Weiss needed more help and fast. Sliding a hand into her pocket, she retrieved a small rectangular device, her scroll. Each huntress's scroll came equipped with an "Emergency Contact" feature. A couple of presses and emergency services would know exactly where help was needed. Looking down at the silver device, Ruby's finger hovered over the button, her thoughts confused and conflicted.

'_She needs a doctor now. But, but when I call they'll know what I did. Everyone, will know I'm a monster. I hurt Weiss. Oh god! Why did I hurt Weiss?' _Ruby's eyes closed, more tears flowing from her now. For once in her life, she had no idea what to do. Her shaking fingers slid the scroll back into her pocket. She could not be the one to call.

Finding her other solution, Ruby desperately searched through Weiss's clothes, pulling open every pocket, looking for the girl's scroll. After what felt like an eternity, Ruby found the scroll in a jacket pocket. She was thankful that emergency calls did not require a password. A few quick presses and the emergency crews were on their way.

Ruby knew she had only minutes before she was discovered and her deed would be revealed. Acting quickly she grabbed her backpack and sprinted from the room. No one must know she was there. Especially not Yang or Blake.

* * *

"What happened here?" Glynda Goodwitch's commanding voice filled the hectic emergency room as she threw the swinging doors open. Inside she could detect the foul odor of disinfectant and sounds of the frantic staff. Various pings and chirps of medical equipment rang out as the doctors tried to save the white haired girl on the table before them.

"Female. Seventeen. Massive blood loss caused by lacerations to the neck and shoulders." A male doctor called out. He soon turned his attention back to his patent, calling out various orders to his three subordinates. The medical staff worked together in a feverish pace, various drugs and fluids were inserted by some, while while others worked to close the wounds. Like a well choreographed ballet, the team came together trying to save the young Schnee.

From a distance the green eyed woman looked over the tear in miss Schnee's neck. Professor Goodwitch knew these wounds. Most would simply attribute them to a normal fight or grimm attack; however, she knew better. She knew what caused this. She knew who caused this, and she was going to kill her.

* * *

In the hours that followed the remaining members of team RWBY confined themselves to the hospital waiting room, awaiting any news of their fallen friend. Each member of the team was alerted to Weiss's plight the instant her emergency beacon activated. The beacons automatically alerted every member of the owner's team, a useful feature when calling for help in the field.

The waiting room was a simple deal. A square room located at the corner of the hospital with a series of windows on the wall opposite the single door. Four dark purple couches encircled a short oval coffee table covered in the latest issues of various magazines. Snack and drink machines were positioned next to a counter with sink and a coffee maker that occupied the wall to the right of the entrance.

The air was filled with an unnerving level of calm. None of the teammates said a word, Blake sat silently on one of the couches facing the door and Yang sat across from her reading a gossip magazine. The young fanus's eyes never left the entrance, almost as if she could will news to arrive faster. Yang on the other hand did her best to put out an air of calm in an effort to combat the fire of anger and grief burning inside her. In stark contrast to her teammates, miss Rose nervously paced the width of the room from the moment she arrived, abnormally late for what her teammates had grown accustomed to from the energetic girl. Yang and Blake silently took note of their leader's odd demeanor, frantically pulling and twisting her fingers and jumping at every sound. While those behaviors would not be too unexpected given the situation, it was the way Ruby relegated herself as far from the door as possible that struck them as strange. People eager for news tened to keep themselves close to where the doctor would be coming from. Yet Ruby was almost hiding from the news.

Ruby's mind was lost in thoughts of Weiss. She mentally punished herself for panicking back in her room. Continuously she wondered what she should have done differently. Should she have stayed with Weiss and made up a lie about finding her like that? Maybe she should have taken in her arms and rushed her to the hospital herself? One thing Ruby was certain of, Weiss was lying there in that emergency room because of her.

"Miss Rose?" The sudden intrusion by the male nurse who entered the room elicited a jump and a high-pitched yelp from Ruby. Taking note of the response the nurse looked back at his clipboard. "Miss Belladonna? Miss Xiao Long?" His questions triggered a nod and a "Yo!" respectively.

After looking for the source of the voice, Blake and Yang leaped to their feet and rushed to the young man. He put up his hand in a gesture intended to stop the pair before speaking himself.

"Before you start asking questions I'll tell you now that the doctors are still working on miss Schnee and that's all the information I have."

Blake and Yang reacted with visible disappointment.

Pausing for a moment the nurse continued. "I just have a couple of questions for you regarding miss Schnee. Now before I begin I must remind you that everything you say will be kept in strict confidence and we will not contact any law enforcement personnel about anything you say. All we want are honest answers. Got that."

The pair nodded.

"Okay, to your knowledge is miss Schnee taking any medication?" Blake and Yang thought for a moment before shaking their heads. "What about any illicit drugs? Aura dampeners? Anything like that?"

"No! Of course not!" Yang quickly replied, jumping to her teammate's defence. "Weiss would never do any of those things."

The nurse put up a calming gesture before trying to talk again. "I'm not saying she did. We're just trying to get an accurate take on anything that could be in her system."

After taking a moment Blake spoke up. "Why did you mention aura blockers? Seems oddly specific."

"Oh, the doctors noticed that miss Schnee's aura is not regenerating as quickly as they would normally expect. Now are you sure miss Schnee is not taking anything?"

"Absolutely." Responded Yang.

"Well thank you for your time. If you need anything we'll be right outside." With that he turned and left the room.

Not five minutes later the door opened once again to reveal a particularly agitated professor Goodwich. Blake and Yang snapped to their feet and rushed to their professor while Ruby halted her pacing but remained at the rear of the room. Goodwitch cleared her throat before agressing the room.

"Children I have a couple questions regarding miss Schnee."

Yang interrupted not bothering to hide her annoyed tone. "Before you ask the nurse already came in and we already told him that Weiss doesn't do drugs."

"That is not what I am here about. Now if you would calm down let me explain myself. I am here to ask you as her teammates if miss Schnee has been spending any time recently with anyone new or if, to your knowledge, she has made any friends outside of Beacon?"

Blake and Yang thought for a moment before stating that Weiss only spent her time with them and their friends at Beacon.

"What about you miss Rose?" Goodwitch called to the back of the room. Normally she would not appreciate needing to address someone who did not bother approach her. But given how close the partners were, Glynda was willing to let it slide.

"Huh?" Ruby let out. It was obvious to everyone that the girl was not listening. Goodwitch stared at her for a moment before repeating the question.

"I...I don't think so." Ruby stammered. Goodwitch's eyes narrowed on the girls. The trio could tell from the professor's reaction these were not the answers Goodwitch was looking for. As Goodwitch thought about what to say next she was interrupted by a sharp beeping coming from her scroll. A quick glance at that the device and she swiftly departed the room without a word.

* * *

High atop Beacon's tallest tower was located the office of professor Ozipn, headmaster of this academy. The methodical, precise movement of the clockwork that made up the room's walls and desk reflecting of the man who occupied it. From through the elevator doors burst in Glynda Goodwitch, a look of pure determination and anger adorned her face.

"She's here Ozpin. She's back and she's after miss Schnee." Her rant was cut off when she noticed Ozpin was not alone in his office. Standing adjacent to his ornate desk was General James Ironwood. His tightly controlled black and white hair and ordered suit showed everyone he was a man or order and discipline. Exactly the sort of man one would expect to be the head of a military academy.

"Ah Glynda, I was just expressing my sincere condolences as to what happened to your student. To be injured in the field is one thing, but to be attacked like so while within the halls of their own academy is a tragedy." While Ironwood did appear to be both saddened and disgusted, Goodwitch had no patience left to deal with the general.

"James, how lovely it is to see you." Her full annoyance filled her mock friendliness. "Unless you plan on deploying troops to miss Schnee's hospital room I don't believe your skills are needed here."

Clearing his throat, Ozpin abruptly put a stop to the pair's verbal sparring. Ironwood and Goodwitch approached the clockwork desk as Ozpin began to speak.

"You both know why you're here. The situation with miss Schnee needs to be addressed."

"We need to focus on finding Karnstein!" Goodwitch impassionately cut off the headmaster. "The Schnee girl is her new target. We need to hunt her down!"

"If this is indeed a man hunt, then Ozpin my troops will be at your disposal." Said Ironwood.

"I do not believe that will be necessary James." Ozpin said, his calm tone retaking control of the room. "A full blown military occupation of Beacon will not solve anything and will only incite panic." Her turned his gaze firmly onto Goodwitch. "We don't even know for sure that it was in fact miss Karnstein who was behind the attack on miss Schnee. The school has recently become home to students from all over the world, anyone of which could be our culprit. Besides, your own research indicated that these," Ozpin paused, he hated the term used to refer to them, "Vampires, only need a blood meal every few months. So even if we did swarm the campus with soldiers it would be unlikely that the culprit would show themselves even if he or she was still here."

Goodwitch sighed, she had to admit that she saw the logic in the headmasters words.

Ozpin continued. "Right now the best we can do is keep miss Schnee under observation. If she is indeed a target then by maintaining a close eye on her we should catch whoever is behind this should they make another appearance."

"Alright Ozpin. I'll go with your judgement here." Ironwood reluctantly agreed. "In the mean time, what information do you have as to a suspect?"

Ozpin shot his hand up to silence Goodwitch before she could give her own answer to the question. "Not much I'm afraid. All we have so far are the door logs which show only members of team RWBY accessing the room. Therefore the culprit must have been allowed entrance by miss Schnee. Unfortunately we wont know more until she regains consciousness."

* * *

Weiss's condition was slow to improve. Severe blood loss resulted in damage to several of her internal organs. Normally a warrior's aura would have been more than sufficient to repair the damage in a timely manner; however, her aura was regenerating at a concerningly slow rate. As a result Weiss was now on an array of medications, most of which had names no one could pronounce.

From the moment she regained consciousness, nearly a full day after the attack, she was bombarded by questions. Everyone from the police to the school officials wished to know what happened to her. Unfortunately, not even Weiss herself could answer them. Her memories of that day remained muddled, she could not even clearly remember entering her room. A fact that greatly aggravated Goodwitch during her visits with the young girl.

For the first time since she awoke, Weiss managed to have a few precious moments alone with her teammates. Blake acted as a calm balance to Yang's energetic and as some would say, over enthusiastic entertainment of the bedridden Schnee. Much to Yang's disappointment, Blake refused to allow fireball juggling in the hospital room. Ruby; however, remained uncharacteristically solemn, spending the visit standing by the door.

Noticing her leader's odd behavior, Weiss shot Blake a look then moved her eyes toward Ruby. Blake followed her gaze, instantly grasping Weiss's message. Much to Yang's protests, Blake vacated the room with her partner in tow. This left the heiress and the scythe-wielder lone together.

"Ruby," Weiss started, "I know why you're acting like this." Her tone was both commanding and concerned.

"You...you do?" Ruby replied nervously. Inside her heart was racing, she was terrified that Weiss may actually remember what she did to her.

"Of course, and I'm only going to tell you this once. It was not your fault."

"Um...Sorry, what? It's not my fault?"

"Of course it's not your fault you dunce. What, just because you're team leader doesn't mean that you're responsible for every time one of us gets hurt." Weiss hated being forced to explain the painfully obvious to her teammates. Sometimes she felt like the only one who had a clue.

"Oh, right." Ruby said, relieved that what she did remained a secret.

"Don't beat yourself up about this. We're going to catch this guy, whoever he is, as a team. Don't you worry." Weiss's smile showed the determination that could only come from a huntress on a mission.

* * *

Every time ruby closed her eyes she could Weiss laying there, bleeding; her friend's blood staining her hands. Ruby lay curled up on her bed, trying to make any sort of sense out of what happened that day. She hurt Weiss, she drank her blood, and that was all she knew. Many questions circled in her mind. Why did she do it? Why did it feel so good?

It had been two days since Weiss made her promise to Ruby, a promise that only made Ruby's internal panic worsen. As her teammates got ready for sleep, Ruby lay on her bed, terrified of what tomorrow would bring.

Since Weiss's attack the school had been alight with rumors about what happened to her. Most of them involved White Fang assassins, or a loose grimm in the school. But with the lack of any other instances, the rumors began to burn themselves out.

This did not calm Ruby's fears as she used her scroll to read the news reports of Weiss's attack. Her only relief came from the fact that none of the reports mentioned the bite wounds or the drained blood. Ruby only hoped it would stay that way.

However more pressing concerns soon occupied the young girl's mind. As the day had progressed those feelings she experienced before she attacked Weiss began to return. The weakness was now accompanied by a strange attraction to people that she could not fully explain. To Ruby it felt like a powerful, warm, energy emanated from everyone and all of her being wanted to open them up and embrace it.

These thoughts terrified her. Thoughts that should be alien to her, felt so, natural and good. This worried her the most. Did some deep dark part of her enjoy hurting people? Was Weiss just the beginning? She barely managed to stop herself from killing Weiss. What if she couldn't stop herself next time?

She needed to go for a walk, these concerns circling in her head were not going to allow sleep. Deciding that some fresh air would do her some good she hopped down from her bed, slipped on her shoes, and left the room without a word.

The cool night breeze cut through the thin fabric covering her body. Ever since those marks appeared on her, Ruby started wearing a Beacon T-shirt in lieu of her normal tank top to bed in hopes of covering her welts. This proved to be adequate for the mild temperature in this clear night. As she wandered around the abandoned campus, Ruby tried to chase away the disturbing thoughts in her head. She knew she would hurt someone else, and soon. Her body craved it, yearned for blood, and if she lost control again, there was no telling who would get hurt.

Someone else was here, she could feel their presence as she passed the gardens. Pulling her head above the decorative brick wall that surrounded the gardens, Ruby spied the him. One of the first year boys, light brown and gold hair wearing the school's uniform. He was sitting on one of the wooden benches that surrounded a central fountain. The boy looked to be writing a letter under the light of an overhead streetlamp.

Ruby dropped to a sitting position against the fence, the desire to tear open his flesh and relish in his fluids was almost overpowering. She closed her eyes and tried to calm herself with slow, deep breathing.

In, and out.

In, and out.

In, and out.

'_I can't lose control again. What is happening to me? Why am I doing this?'_ Her own disturbing desires scared her. '_Its only getting worse. I can't lose control again. I'm going to hurt someone and I know I won't be able to stop myself. What if its Blake, or Yang this time? I can't let that happen. I can't lose control again.'_

The young huntress knew the desires were only growing stronger and a fear for those around her grew with them. But there it was, in the air she could feel it. The boy, releasing an almost intoxicating aura. This is what she had to do. Ruby knew if she didn't, she would hurt someone else. If she remained in control, everyone would be alright. She hoped.

* * *

The serine night air washed over the boy's form as he wrote. It wasn't often enough he did this. Writing letters to his friends back home was one of the few things that kept him sane at this intense combat school.

To preoccupied was he to notice the dark force that stalked him. In the shadows a predator closed in, hungry for him. To confinement in the safety of this academy, he never thought to be on guard for an attack.

His only warning came from a slight rustling of the underbrush behind him. Unfortunately, that warning came too late. From through the darkness came a powerful force crashing into his back. It carried him face first onto the brick walkway. Immediately blood poured from his nose. His attacker was on top of him, tearing at him like a wild animal. It tore open his collar, exposing the flesh of his neck. The young boy was terrified. In the dark, alone, weaponless, helpless.

Coming to his senses, he tried to regain his footing and shove the attacker off. A slender arm slid across his chest, pulling his arms to his body, effectively tripping him. His face slammed back into the brick. Opening his mouth he cried for help into the night only for a hand to clamp his lips shut. He wanted to scream, to alert anyone to this force that meant him harm.

The hand pulled his head to the left, and then there was a pause. An unnatural stillness filled the creature atop him. His reprieve was only for a moment before teeth tore into his neck. Like a wild dog the creature shook it's head opening him up further. The boy screamed through his closed mouth in pain. But no one heard, no help would come.

* * *

Warm water poured over Ruby's body. She scrubbed at her arm, over and over, desperately trying to scrub away the memories of what she did. Her mind returned to that poor boy, his utter terror, his muffled screams. But worst of all, his blood. The euphoria returned. Pleasure like she only experienced once before, with Weiss.

'_Why did it have to feel so good?'_ The pleasure only made it worse for her. Hurting people was one thing, enjoying it however, for her that was the most gut wrenching part.

Ruby's shower scrunchie slipped from her fingers before she supported herself against the shower stall. Try as she might she just couldn't stop the tears from flowing. Her thin frame convulsing with each sob. Sure the boy would live. She remained in control the whole time, only taking enough to calm her cravings. She even did the same trick with the emergency contact as she did with Weiss. Help would find him soon.

But none of that brought her any solace. She was a monster. She had become the very thing she dedicated her life to fighting, a creature that preyed on the innocent. What would her friends, or her family think of her now. Her father, who lost his love to monsters. Now his daughter was one herself. She may not be a grimm, but as far as she was concerned, she might as well be.

* * *

**Author's Notes:  
**

**So the first person thing was an experiment, and one that I did not like the results of. So from now on I'm not going to use it any more.**

**As always feel free to follow and review, I just love reading the reviews.**

**Thank you for reading.  
**


	3. Chapter 3

Through the ornate clock face window could be seen the hectic hustle and bustle of Beacon's students going about their normal routines, betraying the serious tone within professor Ozpin's office. The previous night another student was brutally attacked. While his injuries were nowhere near as severe as miss Schnee's, his weakened state left him hospitalized.

Ozpin looked away from the window and towards his scroll that displayed information about the young man's condition. "This should not have happened." Glynda Goodwitch's tone was one of frustration and anger. If it were up to her she would have locked down the academy after the first attack, searching it room by room until that foul woman was found. The fact that her instincts matched Ironwood's was enough for her not to not press the issue at the time, normally she would reject any of his plans out of principle. But today was different, something had changed.

"You may be right." After countless years as a huntsman, the unknown was not a thing Ozpin was comfortable with and his calm tone did little to hide that fact. "This shows us how little we really know about these creatures. Our previous research suggested that feedings were an irregular occurrence, yet we now have two victims in under a week. I believe it would be best to call everything we thought we knew into question."

In the past there had been very little to go on when researching these individuals. Currently the headmasters of the top huntsmen academies as well as a few select individuals were the only ones privy to the existence of vampires. The people were happy and content behind their walls with the creatures that hunted them far away from civilization. But the idea that other predators existed, and ones who could hide in plain sight, was not a comfortable fact to be shared. Ozpin learned a long time ago that the people prefered their monsters to be beasts covered in black with glowing red eyes, not someone hiding in the crowd.

Keeping this information confidential proved to be a relatively easy task. Only six such individuals were thought to exist, with two of them believed to live in Vacuo with the rest inhabiting each of the remaining three kingdoms. On top of that, much like creatures of Grimm, vampires who lived for as long they, had since learned to leave a low profile. With few bodies ever appearing, it was hoped that was a sign these individuals were using more sustainable feeding methods.

Ozpin sipped from his mug emblazoned with Beacon's seal, "I believe that it is time we brought in a fresh pair of eyes. Preferably one with an expert knowledge of history."

"That is not entirely necessary, I am more than capable of handling this. Just let me be the one to stop her." The blond haired woman pleaded.

"No." Goodwitch was taken aback by Ozpin's stern reply. "You're too close to this one. But I still need you. Right now there are at least two separate teams who are going to be running their own freelance investigations. These children cannot handle this. If they find the culprit they will die. Do what you have too."

Goodwitch's eyes narrowed, she knew where the professor was going with this. "Surely someone else can handle that. Besides, I don't think calling him in is a good idea."

Ozpin's eyebrow lifted in response.

Pinching the bridge if her nose, Goodwitch sighed. "You already called him didn't you?"

Mere moments later, Beacon's resident green haired history professor stepped out of the elevator and into the office.

"Oobleck, please take a seat." Ozpin gestured towards a chair opposite the one he was currently taking at the desk. Goodwitch, however; remained standing.

"Why certainly!" Oobleck was always one with an excited demeanor. " What is it you wished to discuss?" He asked as he took his seat.

Leaning across the desk and interlocking his fingers, Ozpin stared into Oobleck's eyes. "What do you know, about vampires?"

* * *

Warnings had been sent out to all the student advising them to travel in groups. However; in a school populated by warriors in training, few took the threat seriously. Between classes the students went about their day as usual, oblivious to the predator in their midst.

In the middle of Beacon's campus as Blake, Ruby, and Yang were separating for their next classes of the day, Blake was pulled aside by an apprehensive looking Ruby. The brunet was fidgeting with her hands and nervously glancing around, making sure no one was listening in.

"C...Can we talk?" Ruby could not bring herself to look the faunus in the eyes.

Looking down at the girl, Blake could tell something was troubling her leader. Blake placed her hand on Ruby's back and gently guided her into a less traveled area behind one of the white brick buildings.

"What's on your mind Ruby?" Asked Blake.

"Um. I wanted to ask you something. If you've done something bad and you regret it, like really really regret it, but you were sure people would never look at you the same if they knew, what would you do?" The young girl's rambling confirmed Ruby's inexperience. In those years Blake spent in the White Fang, she did many things she regretted. She knew no matter what Ruby did, she could never come close to what Blake had done. Grasping Ruby's shoulders in both hands, Blake knelt down to look the shorter girl in the eyes.

"Ruby," Blake did her best to put on a caring tone, something she was ill practiced at. "Whatever you could have possibly done, we would never look at you any differently. You don't have to tell me what's going on if you don't want to. Just know that Weiss, Yang, and I are here if you need to talk.

As much as Blake tried to comfort Ruby, seeing her teammate look at her with a warm smile and concern in her eyes and then hearing Weiss's name caused her guilt to rise. Despite what Blake said, Ruby knew if her teammates saw what she had become they would only see her as the monster she had become.

"How do you live with what you did in the White Fang?" Blake was taken aback by Ruby's sudden question. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry." Franticly apologized. "I didn't mean to say that you did bad things in the past. Well you kinda did but that's not what I'm trying to say."

"Ruby its okay." Blake hushed the nervus girl's stammering. "I decided to focus on making a difference. But I learned that sometimes you need more than just a goal. Sometimes you need to look to those who care for you. You, Yang, even Weiss, have given me a place to call home. If it wasn't for you I wouldn't be able to look beyond the past. With you, I have a future." Blake smiled as she finished.

Ruby took in what Blake said. Blake may not be the best at comforting speeches, but for now it was what Ruby needed.

"Thanks Blake." Ruby returned her grin. "Hey could you not tell Yang about this?"

"Sure Ruby. Whatever you say."

* * *

Over the next several days Ruby spent her free time using the library computers to secretly research various psychoses. Schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anything to explain her newfound violent compulsions. She hoped somehow she would discover a way to stop herself from hurting anyone else in the future.

Twice she took herself to the school counselor, and twice she failed to work up the nerve to walk in. The fear of confronting what she did and facing those she cared about overpowered her desire to seek help.

Since her second attack the desire to hurt someone else still filled her mind. Ruby felt that if she just drained the life from that poor boy her urges would be filled. In sparing him she felt a void inside her. She had to hunt, she had to kill and the longer she waited the tighter the urge's grip on her became. Every person who came close she could feel them. Their breathing, the blood pumping through them, their aura flowing and surrounding them. All of it, Ruby wanted to feel it, to open them up and absorb their very essence. It was intoxicating and wonderful; and it terrified her.

As she tried to clear her mind she found herself watching a green haired girl in grey and gold combat gear sitting a few tables over. Her smooth skin, Ruby could almost feel the blood flowing just under the surface. Her aura, Ruby could feel it's energy swirling from where she sat.

Realizing what she was doing, Ruby hastily rose from her seat and left the library. Out through the cool night air she rushed to her dorm, anything to clear her mind. It was there, eyes up toward the lights of her dorm she bumped into him. Silver armor, black hair with matching silver streaks, Josh was his name. He was an exchange student who came in with with general. He and Ruby had exchanged pleasantries once not long after his arrival. The energy, the sweet scent of his blood, She needed to have him.

Without a word Josh continued his stroll towards his assigned dorm. Ruby stood still upon the brick path, watching her prey. Once he disappeared into his building she moved, stalking the source of her pleasure. A quick bite and the euphoria would be her's again.

Ruby followed him from a distance down the tile floored hallway, waiting for her opportunity to strike. Too many people were awake at this time of the evening, making her options limited.

Then she saw it, a janitor's closet that had been neglected to be closed, an isolated spot for her deed. Like a shadow Ruby closed the distance on her prey. Her heart pounded furiously in anticipation. Her mouth practically watering at the thought of the wonderfulness to come.

In a swift powerful motion Ruby clamped her left hand across Josh's mouth and her right arm across his chest, pinning his arms. His confusion and panic gave Ruby the opening to bite his exposed neck and tear into his flesh. The ecstasy flowed through her.

Quickly coming to her senses, Ruby pulled the struggling boy into the open closet, closing the door behind her. Muffling his terrified struggle.

* * *

A day later Weiss was finally released from her hospital stay. The heiress was not as back to normal as she let on. Her aura only recently returning to full strength left many of her internal still injuries intact.

Her friends and teammates joyously celebrated her return. Ren and Yang prepared a feast of the best the local Foodmart had to offer. Not exactly fine dining but Weiss enjoyed it all the same.

After their rowdy meal, RWBY retreated to their room. When they arrived each spread out in the room, Weiss and Blake sitting on their beds with Yang leaning against her's. The girls looked toward their leader expectantly.

"So what's the plan?" Yang said, breaking the silence. "How we gonna get this guy?"

"Well what if we let the police handle this one? I mean we've been so busy lately with school and Torchwick and whatnot." Ruby nervously scratched the back of her head as she spoke.

"Really?" Blake's tone was one of confusion. Usually the fifteen year-old would be eager to jump into danger, this overly cautious Ruby was certainly a new occurrence.

"Oh come on Ruby, where's that adventurous spirit?" Said Yang playfully.

"How about we start by talking to the other victims and their teammates? Maybe we can get some clue or find a witness?" Blake offered.

"Ya, that sounds like a good idea. Let's go with that one." Said Ruby nervously.

The next hour was spent divvying up assignments and going over what they already knew. During this exchange Ruby remained uncharacteristically quiet, feeding Blake's growing concern. After their chat, Blake was starting to watch Ruby more closely. Something was off with the girl and Blake was going to find out what.

* * *

"He was my student Ozpin!" Oobleck froze as he exited the elevator into the headmaster's office. Before him sitting behind his desk was Ozpin with an annoyed looking Goodwitch sitting across from him. Standing next to Ozpin was a particularly angry general.

Oobleck quietly approached the table while listening to Ironwood berate Ozpin. The seated headmaster remained silent, allowing the general to vent. Ozpin understood his friend's anger; to have his own student harmed while unable to do anything about it, would push anyone over the edge.

"Please Ozpin, let me use my forces. We can secure this school and track this woman down." Ironwood pleaded, his frustration subsiding. "We can't let this happen again."

"I understand how you feel. But we need to go about his with more control and as I said before deploying an army will not help us catch her." Said Ozpin.

"So if I may, who is this woman you're all talking about?" Oobleck asked, fed up with the lack of information sent his way.

After a moment Goodwitch broke the silence. "Her name is Karnstein. She's a serial killer."

"Well she is a vampire I assume." Said Oobleck.

"Its more than that." Ozpin cut in. "The killings she is referring to are not predatory. Miss Karnstein reappears every few decades. She picks a young woman and befriends her, getting close to her. She seduces this woman and kills her. Miss Karnstein became acquainted with professor Goodwitch a number of years ago. Since then she has shown up once before to antagonize Goodwitch."

"I see." Said Oobleck. Turning to Goodwich he said. "If you don't mind me asking, how well did you and this Karnstein become acquainted?"

Her eyes narrowed on the green haired professor. "I was her intended victim."

"Oh, how did you survive?"

"I don't play for her team." She said bluntly.

"Ah. Right." Oobleck said uncomfortably, realizing he may have overstepped with his questions.

"Anyway," Goodwich continued, "she's a hunter and I'm the prey that got away. Since then I have become a prize of a sort. The last time she showed up she was trying to get my attention and now she's back and she won't stop."

After a moment to absorb what he learned, Oobleck turned back to Ozpin. "Anyway, you called me sir?"

"Yes. Now that you're all here I'd like to discuss the recent events. What have each of you learned? Glynda?"

"So far both Beacon teams have been quiet. If they are conducting their own investigations they are being covert about it. Ironwood's people on the other hand," She shot the general a look of annoyance. "I would recommend keeping a closer eye on them."

"Noted." Ozpin replied. "Ironwood, what is your assessment of the situation?"

"Our culprit is toying with us." He stated bluntly.

This elicited an eyebrow raise from Ozpin. "Oh, how so?"

"They're making no attempt to dispose of their victims. So far each victim has been found in a public or well traveled location, somewhere that would make it likely they would be found. Apart from that each victim had their own scroll used to alert their teammates and medical staff of the attack. My assessment is that we are looking at someone who likes to play games. If theses were purely predatory in nature our attacker would have simply killed them and disposed of the bodies. Instead they're leaving us with traumatized students and showing us that whoever this is they could have killed them if they wanted too. Our culprit is asserting their power by allowing them to live. But that won't last long. Psychopaths like this, they will escalate when they don't get the reaction they are hoping for. When asserting their power of life and death like this fails, they will move on to killing."

Ozpin silently nodded and turned his gaze to the green haired professor who remained. "Oobleck, how has your research been progressing?"

Clearing his throat,Oobleck rose from his seat to speak. "While I haven't had much time to research this topic, as an expert in history I have made some progress so far. As you may be aware its rather difficult to separate the fact from the and legends of vampiric individuals go back centuries. But so far none of my research explains any of this behavior. All the stories treat a feeding as a special event. Nowhere do you see vampires taking this many victims in such a short time. Usually the tales paint a picture of a vampire taking a single victim before moving on. This, this makes no sense."

"Like miss Karnstein. Single victim, moves on." Said Ozpin.

Afterwards Oobleck went on to discuss his own findings, much of it confirmed what the other three already knew. Soon they moved on to finalize their plan of action. Each of them hoped they would soon stop whoever was attacking their students.

* * *

The dark hallways of Beacon had become foreboding as of late. It used to be that walking around the campus at night was a peaceful activity, but now with rumors of monsters and psychopaths wandering the halls, few felt safe. One of these was a young faunus girl with brown hair and a matching pair of antlers. Her study session with a friend in a dorm for older students ran late and she was now walking back to her own in the night.

Her heart raced as she moved through the halls. Instincts told her she was being followed, but her rational mind said she was being paranoid. When she heard the cracking of floorboards behind her, she picked up her pace, slowly giving in to her rising worry.

A dark force rapidly closed in on it's target, a cloud of ethereal rose petals in it's wake. Closer and closer the figure came. Her prey tried to flee, changing to a full sprint, whimpers of fear escaped her lips. Weaponless and alone she sped towards the stairs, stairs that would take her to the level where many of her friends lay sleeping.

The figure slammed into the faunus at full force, sending the girl crashing into the floor. Her face scraped across the red rug that covered the wood around it. The hand clasped across her face silencing her cries. Tears flowed down her cheeks as she was pulled into a small dark room where none could hear her.

* * *

That night Glynda Goodwitch entered her accommodations. Her apartment was a modest one with a living room and kitchen together and a bedroom off to the far side. In her bedroom was a four poster bed with purple sheets, a desk covered in many books and papers next to the large open window, a short empty table and two wood chairs sat adjacent to the closet.

Yet immediately Goodwitch noticed something amiss. There, drinking a coffee and sitting at her table was a woman with short jet black hair and deep blue eyes. She wore matching skin tight black leather pants and heeled boots, her tank top was green with a red and black jacket over top. An amused grin adorned her face as she watched the apartment's owner arrive.

The moment Goodwitch spotted the intruder she drew her riding crop and shot a purple pulse of energy towards the woman. The table and the pair of chairs that surrounded it exploded in a shower of wooden shards. Yet the pulse passed harmlessly through the woman as she disappeared into a black cloud which quickly floated over to the bed. the cloud condensed into an even more amused looking woman. She sprawled seductively across the purple satin sheets and smirked at Goodwitch.

"Now is that anyway to say hello?" The intruder said. "Come over here and why don't we get reaquainted?" She said with a laugh.

With a primal growl Goodwitch threw her arm forward casting another pulse of energy, destroying the bed. As before the woman became a black cloud. This time the cloud floated over to Goodwitch. When it reached her a face coalesced from it, giving Goodwitch a playful peck on the cheek before laughing as it moved over to the desk.

The woman reappeared atop the desk, her left leg folded under her while the right swung over the edge. She leaned forward, gripping the wood surface with both hands and spoke.

"Come one Little Witch, are you gonna destroy your entire apartment? You know you can't hurt me. Don't you just wanna talk?"

Goodwitch stood with her weapon at the ready watching the intruder. "Stop what you are doing. Your dispute is with me woman, not my students."

The woman in black laughed at Goodwitch's statement. "A couple of things love. First, are you telling me you're afraid to even use my name? Come on, there's no excuse to not be civil. Say my name Glynda, you can do it."

"Carmilla. Carmilla stop this."

Carmilla Karnstein laughed again. "See, that wasn't so hard Little Witch. Secondly, I'm not doing anything. Well," She said grinning like a child hiding something from their parents, "maybe a little thing."

"Explain!" Goodwitch was tired of this woman's game.

"I may have visited one of your little students and passed on a little gift."

"What?" Was Goodwitch's confused reply.

"Where did you think new vampires came from love? Dropped from the sky by nevermores?" She laughed again. "You see in order to make a new vampire one justs has to give it to another. In this case one of your highly trained combatants."

"Tell me who your accomplice is Carmilla, now!" She yelled.

"I wouldn't call it an accomplice per say. You know that thought experiment Little Witch, the one where you take a newborn and drop them in the woods to grow up without any human or faunus influence." She paused for a moment to observe Goodwitch's reaction. "Well anyway I decided why not try the same, but this time instead of a newborn baby, why not a newborn vampire? Granted this time its not so much dropping a baby into the woods as it is dropping a hungry ursa into a sheep pen. Young vampires are so voracious for the first few months after turning." She matter of factly. "So many changes need to happen in such a short time. Now normally there would be another vampire to keep an eye on them and stop the young one from attracting too much attention. But this is not an easy thing to accomplish Little Witch, hence there are so few of us. No one wants to go through the effort. If only humans and faunus had the same attitude am I right?" Carmilla's attempt at humor fell on deaf ears.

"Anyway," Carmilla continued, "my father for example, the vampire one, not the other one, slaughtered most of a small village for me. The locals thought there was a hungry pack of grimm just outside the city, the corpses he tore apart to cover up how they really died helped with that. This little one doesn't have that luxury, but frankly I think its doing rather well. Has a certain style going on if I must say so."

"Why are you telling me this Carmilla, are you here to gloat?" Glynda finally lost her cool and was letting her anger out at the vampire.

"Why Glynda, I'm just here to help." Carmilla said, feigning insult.

"Too help, what could you possibly mean by that?"

"Well there's no way you and your little gang can stop this newborn before things get worse and I know who it is and how to stop them. Face it, you need me." Her eyes looked up and down Goodwitch. "You want me."

"No." Goodwich said defiantly. "If I knew how to kill you I would. I will not have you at my school and I will not indulge you in your twisted games.

"Are you sure? I told you things will get worse. You know children, always looking to spread it around. Boy, when they're young they really have no control of their instincts am I right?" Carmilla said playfully. "Pretty soon instincts will take over and this newborn will be overcome with the urge to, spread their seed so to speak."

Goodwitch's face willed with worrying realization.

Carmilla continued. "A newborn vampire with the uncontrollable urge to turn others in the middle of a school for warriors filled with hundreds of exchange students from all over the world." She gasped with fake shock. "You don't think this could be bad do ya?"

"Get out woman!" Goodwitch yelled. "Leave now and don't you dare come back!"

Carmilla smiled again. "I'll go for now, but I'll stick around for when you change your mind Little Witch." She blew Glynda a kiss before her body collapsed into the form of a bat. The small black creature took flight and disappeared out the open window into the night.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Well here is the next chapter. If you enjoyed it let me know in a review.**

**Thank you for reading.**


	4. Chapter 4

'_In, and out.'_

'_In, and out.'_

'_In, and out.'_

To Ruby, her breathing exercises was the only thing keeping her from leaping from her suspended bed and indulging in the first person she found. Through her library research she read about people with addictions and compulsions, and the techniques they used to stay normal. Or as normal as the type of people she read about can be. Ruby knew her family and her friends could never understand her. Something was terribly wrong with her, she hurt people and enjoyed it, she was now the very thing she swore to protect this world from, a monster.

With a loud crash the room's door flew open to reveal a particularly satisfied looking Yang. Like the other members of her team, she had been out following her own lead into the person attacking the student body. The smile that adored her face did little for Ruby's peace of mind.

Already Weiss had returned by this point with Blake being the first of their team to arrive back at the room. Much like their last research expedition each of them split up in their search.

"Good!" Yang said enthusiastically. "You're all here. _I_ found something super interesting. What did you guys find?"

"Well I learned something very interesting about our creep." Her big sister's statement felt like a stab to the heart for Ruby. That is what she was now, a creep.

"So far every victim has had a mysterious bouquet of flowers anonymously mailed to their hospital room. Almost a calling card of sorts."

Ruby knew where each of those came from. While it did not come close to making up for what she did, Ruby felt she had to do something to apologize in her own way. Luckily for her there were plenty of florists for her to pay cash in and to have no one ask questions.

Being high on her own detective skills Yang continued. "Like serial killers who brand their victims this guy is marking their own by sending them a bunch of flowers. Weird, but I'll go with it."

"Are you sure its the guy who's sending them?" Blake chimed in. "Couldn't it just be teammates and family members sending the flowers?

'_Thanks Blake.'_ Ruby thought. '_See Yang, perfectly innocent explanations.'_

"Naa. See I asked the teammates about it and none of them sent those flowers. And I went to the companies and each bouquet was paid for in cash without a name."

"That is the definition of anonymously." Snarked Blake.

In that moment Weiss started to regret her efforts to make the faunus more open in her communication. Ever since the incident when Blake accidentally revealed her heritage and ran off into the night, Weiss insisted that she make an effort to be more open with her teammates. An unfortunate side effect of this, as it seemed, was Blake not hiding her internal snide.

"Does no one else think this is weird?" Weiss chimed in. "Someone who drains people's blood and then sends flowers? It seems unlikely."

Her comment gave the group food for thought, causing a strange silence as both Blake and Yang found her statement to contain Weiss's impeccable logic.

When the group finally continued their conversation Ruby quietly slipped from the room under the guise of needing the restroom. She found a nice quiet place to hide away, a dark corner at the bottom of a particularly little used stairwell. The dusty cinderblock wall supported her weight as she leaned against it. As she did her mind wandered back to those desires that scared her so.

The sweet warmth of their bodies. The incomprehensible pleasure as the blood flowed into her. She loved every moment of it. The more she hurt and hunted the more willing she found herself to do it again.

* * *

"If what miss Karnstein said was true, then this just got much worse." Ironwood said as he stood next to Goodwitch as she surveyed the hospital bound victims. Hums and beeps of medical equipment filled the air. White cream walls reflected the sterile nature of this place. While students occupying these white beds was far from unusual, this was something Goodwitch would not stand for. A monster was hunting her students, and now she learned that the one behind it has the audacity to hide amongst them.

"I'm going to stop them. Every instructor is on the lookout for any student exhibiting strange or violent behavior." Said Goodwitch. "She choose someone who was capable of doing this. Not just physically capable, but someone willing to do this to their fellow students."

The seriousness on Goodwitch's face was something the general solem saw. This level of determination concerned Ironwood, but he was glad her anger was directed as someone who was not him.

"Do you have any suspects in mind?" Asked Ironwood.

"This academy has its fair share of bullies and aggressive types. But this is far beyond anything the children should be capable of. Ozpin selects each student who will be allowed to attend Beacon. Only those who he finds with the strength of character to become true huntsmen are allowed to attend."

Ironwood nodded in understanding. He knew this man well, and was confident in is impeccable judgement.

"Anyone who takes advantage of whatever new abilities they were given to them by this woman to hunt students has no business attending Beacon in the first place." Said Goodwich as she turned to look at Ironwood. "I will find him James and he will have another thing coming for him when I do."

* * *

She was so scared. Muffled cries for help, begging Ruby to stop and let her go. But Ruby could not make herself stop. No matter how much she tried stop everything she was doing, it felt to good not to give in.

This girl was out alone for some unknown reason in the dark halls of beacon, and as much as Ruby wished she could just let the girl continue on with whatever goals or life events had to strolling the academy, her body's dark cravings would not let that happen.

Ruby sprinted away from her latest victim towards her stairwell hiding spot. Even at full sprint she felt herself moving slower than she was used too, her semblance had been feeling weaker of late. She barely made it to her sanctuary before she broke down in tears. It did not matter how many times she did this, she was still hurting innocent people and she would never be okay with it.

"Why am I doing this?" She said looking at her hands, the hands that hurt so many people. "Why can't I stop myself?"

She clenched her fingers into tight fists, digging her nails into her palms and sending the searing pain through her. In that moment Ruby began to realize the longer she stayed at Beacon the more people would be hurt. She had to keep everyone safe and the longer she spent there the more people she would hurt. The dreams of being a hero, protecting the innocent just like in her books, were over. Ruby knew she would never be the hero, the savior of the weak. Her goals were gone, but maybe she could do one last thing to protect her friends.

* * *

This latest combat lesson did little to stimulate Yang's attention. Professor Goodwitch was going on about something to do with battling a superior opponent, but the blond girl paid it little mind. Silver scroll in her lap, Yang stared intently at the device, reading through the various information she saved to it regarding her team's latest project.

Severe blood loss. Lacerations to the neck and shoulder. Bruises to the face, arms, and back. These injuries were common in nearly every victim. Something the team learned in their latest round of snooping. All this painted a strange puzzle that Yang was determined to solve.

"Yang." Weiss's harsh whisper snapped Yang back into reality. "Would you pay attention for once in your life. This is poor behavior and it reflects badly on your team."

Yang though about how for her teammate everything was in fact about her. Teammate slacking off, reflects badly on the princess. Someone skipping class, makes the princess look bad. For someone who was attacked in their own dorm room, Weiss, it seemed, paid little interest in finding the guy. While Weiss was spending the majority of her free time calling in favors and joining the team in their snooping exercises, it was her calm demeanor during class time that struck Yang as odd.

"Doesn't this just seem not as important? I'm pretty sure there's bigger things we could be working on right now." Yang whispered back.

"We cannot devote every waking moment to searching for my attacker Yang. We are still students and we all have responsibilities." Said Weiss.

Yang hated whenever Weiss's counter-points made sense, not that she would ever admit it. She just disliked sitting around doing nothing while some creep went around attacking people left and right.

"Fine ice queen. I'll pay attention." She said, eliciting a glare from the aforementioned Weiss. Looking up from her scroll Yang watched as the professor continued on about dealing with opponents much more powerful than yourself. A strange lecture topic Yang found considering Goodwitch's syllabus did not list it for this week.

* * *

"I mean are you sure this is a good idea?" Ruby said nervously, responding to Weiss's suggestion. The four teammates sat in their room discussing Weiss's plan. Ruby, Blake, and Yang sat on their respective beds while Weiss stood at the front of the room and told the group of her findings. Given what she had apparently devised, Yang could no longer fault her for paying attention in class.

"Of course you dunce. We've gone through much worse as a team and this will be no different." Weiss retorted.

"Still Weiss," Blake interjected, "What makes you think you're correct about our guy going after someone tonight?"

Weiss closed her eyes and sighed, realizing that bursting into the room and announcing to the team that they were going hunting for their bad guy tonight because he was going to strike again, was probably a statement that required more information.

"Looking at the dates of each incident points to a pattern of an attack every four to five nights." Weiss paused to study her audience's reaction. Blake nodded in understanding while the sisters gave Weiss blank stares. "Well the last attack that we are aware of took place six nights ago. Clearly that means our culprit will most likely be out tonight. Thus this is our opportunity to catch him."

Ruby shifted nervously on her bed. Weiss was correct; as much as Ruby tried to control herself, the longer she went the stronger the urges, and the weaker her self control, became. If she did not hurt someone soon, Ruby hated to imagine what she would do if she waited.

"We get that Weiss, but what makes you think you'll succeed where the police haven't? I'm pretty sure they've figured this out as well." Said Yang.

"Well," Weiss started, clearly proud of her own perceived brilliance, "Our guy is obviously making a point to avoid any law enforcement or academy personnel. However, whoever he or she is, they're targeting students who are out late, and alone." Her last statement triggered exactly the negative reaction she expected from her teammates.

"Woa, woa woa." Yang started. "You want us patrolling the school, as bait! I agree with Ruby on this one. This is not a good idea."

"That's not exactly what she said." Replied Weiss.

"I think Weiss's plan has promise." Blake interrupted. "I feel this is our best chance at finding whoever is doing this." Her calm tone successfully defusing the fire and ice confrontation. "What about you Ruby? What do you think?"

The girl in red shifted uncomfortably on her bed before speaking. "W-Well it seems rather dangerous ya know. What if one of you gets hurt? Maybe we should just stay in tonight and let someone else handle it." She said nervously.

"Oh please, no one's gonna hurt this badass!" Yang proudly stated. It never ceased to amaze Ruby how quickly her sister's opinion would change if someone even insinuated that she might lose a fight, a fact that she wished she would remember more often. "Come on Rubes, no one is going to lay a finger on this team. Even if its Weiss's terrible plan."

"Hey!" Said Weiss.

"What do you say Ruby, we all stay in constant contact and call if we see anything. If we do it right there will be nothing to worry about." Blake said reassuringly. All eyes turned to their leader as they awaited her answer.

* * *

A cold chill flowed over Ruby's red clad form. From her perch atop one of Beacon's many roofs she surveyed the quiet campus below. The irony of her situation was not lost on her. While she was supposed to be patrolling for the one attacking students, in reality she was hunting for her next victim. She wished she could wait just another night, anything to ensure her friends would not find her out, if she delayed she was sure to lose control again. She refused to let herself fall into that again. Soon, soon enough she would leave this place, slipping away in the night, off to somewhere she could never hurt anyone ever again.

Through the darkness she spied her newest target, a young boy, just a few years older than herself. He would be perfect.

Sprinting across the rooftops the silent predator closed on her target. Once again she found her speed lacking. As the days went on her semblance continued to weaken. Secretly she hoped that each stolen drink would restore her.

She leaped down from the roof when her target entered a campus building. Through the double glass doors she creeped, slowly closing on her prey. Every time she did this she hoped that she would suddenly lose this overpowering desire, this desire to tear this person open and indulge in their blood. If only she could stop herself. If only.

With a thunderous crash the boy was smashed into the adjacent wall. Dazed and confused he could hardly fight back as the powerful attacker dragged him into a dark classroom.

Ruby pulled herself atop of her victim, pinning him with her weight. as she pulled his head to the left and savagely tore his collar aside, exposing the flesh of his neck. The pang of guilt was silenced by the overwhelming desire inside her, the one reminding her of the gloriousness that awaited her beneath his skin.

Dropping her head down she plunged her teeth into his neck, slicing it open and allowing the wonderful fluid to flow free. Ruby gulped down the euphoria inducing drink, tuning out her perception of the world around her.

Abruptly the door flew open and the classroom was bathed in light. An excited feminine voice filled the room. Ruby felt her stomach drop, she knew that voice. She knew the person behind it, and feared that one above all else.

"Ah ha! gotcha!"

Ruby raised her head from her victim, blood streamed down her lips and chin. There in the doorway with one hand on the lightswitch the other pointing a gauntlet into the room, was Yang. Time seemed to slow down as Yang continued to speak. "Come on and fight me you bea…" Her voice abruptly cut off upon seeing the red clad girl.

Yang's face held an expression of confusion slowly morphing into one of horrifying realization and disbelief. "R-Ruby?"

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Let me know what you think. So far I'm having a lot of fun writing this.**

**Please review.**

**Thank you for reading.**


	5. Chapter 5

The serene sounds of the Emerald Forest's wildlife drifted over the dimly lit Beacon campus, It's soothing nature ran counter to Yang's mental preparations. A fight was coming, that much the blonde warrior yearned for. Snooping and quiet investigation never fit into her way of being. The thrill of the melee, the blood pumping powerful adrenaline through her veins, the unparalleled feeling of freedom and control in those moments, that is what she lived for. This waiting and wandering, hoping the one she was after would strike, was no where near how she was wired, and this is what irked her most of all.

Yang kicked a stone as she huffed, nearly half an hour and no one called in or saw anything. Earlier that night the four members of her team split up, each taking a fourth of the academy grounds. If they saw anything they were to call it in so they could take their target down as a team. Yang disagreed with Ruby's plan to split up, while she had to admit that in order for each of them to work as bait they would have to be alone, she would have preferred, however; that only one act as bait while the others covertly watched over.

Leaning against one of the campus's many ornate buildings, Yang retrieved her scroll. Pulling open the rectangular device she quickly typed out a message and sent it to her teammates. Within moments three new messages appeared on her screen. Each was the same, every member of the team checking in to let the team know they were still alive. Yang closed her scroll and plopped it back into her pocket. She let out a long sigh. Still nothing.

As she continued her stroll closer to where her's and Ruby's areas meet, she caught sight of swift movement out of the corner of her eye. She swung her head over and saw only for a moment a figure landing on the path between buildings before dashing inside one of them. This was it, she knew it. None of her teammates were patrolling her part of campus.

Reaching into her book bag she retrieved her beloved gauntlets. The gold devices slipped onto her waiting wrists. Now this was what she waited for.

Through the dark hallways she stalked, every footfall as silent as leaves hitting grass. Her keenly trained ears detected the unmistakable sounds of a scuffle emanating from the nearby classroom. Pausing just beyond the wooden frame, Yang closed her lilac eyes and steadily released a stored breath. She was ready, this is what she trained for. This is what she lived for.

Throwing open the door with a thunderous crash Yang swiftly used one hand to flip on the lights, revealing her foe from the darkness.

"Ah ha! gotcha!" She proudly yelled. "Come on and fight me you bea…"

Yang stopped. Before her was a sight that would forever be burned into her memories. Crouching over a boy's form was a girl, clad in red. Crimson poured from her mouth bathing her chin in blood. Her sister, with the look of a savage beast she lay there eyes locked on Yang. But her eyes, no longer silver like Yang knew. In this moment her pupils were red, as if her eyes were now those of a grimm.

"R-Ruby?" Yang stood there, paralyzed by what was unfolding in front of her. Ruby, her baby sister, the sweetest, kindest soul she ever knew, was now tearing open some poor boy's neck and gulping down his blood.

This couldn't be right, she thought. This couldn't be her Ruby. The little girl who fell asleep in a wagon. The girl who only ever cared about helping others, now some kind of monster.

Ruby stared at Yang, her head slowly shook side to side, lips ever so softly forming the word "no, over and over again." As Ruby recoiled Yang saw something in those once silver eyes; fear, shame, remorse.

Shifting backwards Ruby's body tensed up, Yang knew what would come next. "Ruby wait!" Yang cried out as her frightened sister leaped to her feet and in one swift motion spun on her heals and sprinted towards the opposite exit.

Wasting no time Yang ran after her fleeing sister. Her run, however; was cut off when she passed the collapsed form laying on the tile floor. Pausing over him, his blood slowly pooling around him, a light grown escaping his lips, she looked down at him then to where her sister was running. All of her sisterly instincts and love told her to chance after her, but at the same time this boy needed her help too and if she did not give it, her baby sister would become a murderer this night.

Outwardly cursing, Yang dropped to the boy's side. A quick once-over found him free of any other obvious injuries, apart from the opening in the side of his neck. Yang lifted him up to face her, his eyes partially open.

"Hey!" Yang yelled forcefully, her anger and frustration venting through her voice. "Wake up!" She yelled again, this time following it up with a swift slap across his face.

This seemed to do the trick as his eyes fluttered open to greet her. The look on his face told Yang he was not fully comprehending his situation.

He looked up and down the form of the blonde, his mind swirling as memories endeavored to become unscrambled reveal why he was here.

After sitting him up against the nearby wall she tore off his jacket and placed it in his hand. "Look at me!" Her commanding tone cutting through his haze. "You're bleeding pretty bad. Take this," she said drawing his gaze to the jacket in his hand, "and keep pressure on your wound."

Doing as she said, he pressed the jacket to the tear in his neck.

"Good." Yang continued, trying to rush the first aid. "Where is your scroll?"

"Uh." He paused trying to piece together where he kept the device. "I think its here." He said as he moved his shaking hand to his pants pocket. Not wanting to waste time, Yang beat his hand to the scroll and retrieved it before shoving it into the boy's free hand.

"Call emergency services right now!" Yang forcefully commanded.

After receiving a nod Yang jumped to her feet and gave chase after her fleeing sister, pausing at the door only to turn to see the boy holding the scroll to his ear.

Yang raced out of the building into the courtyard between buildings. She spun around hoping to spy any sign of Ruby. In the distance, sprinting away from her was a figure with a flowing cloak.

Racing after her, Yang retrieved her own scroll. She had no idea what was happening, but she knew one thing, Ruby needed her help. Yang only hoped she would forgive her for the call she was about to make.

* * *

Running. That was all Ruby could do at this point. She had no idea where she was going but in the haze of her panic all she could think to do was run.

Yang saw her. Yang knew what she did, what she became. The world she loved so much was crashing down around her now that her sister knew. For as long as no one knew what she was doing, Ruby could pretend. She could pretend that all this was not happening, that it was all in her head and that she was just a normal girl who did not have uncontrollable urges to harm.

Through the darkness she ran, somewhere, anywhere that Yang could not see her. Ruby could not let her big sister see her like this, like the monster she had become. The energy in her legs left her too soon, the endurance granted by her resemblance was fading along with her speed. Ruby's weakened legs finally giving out, she fell to her hands and knees on the cold brick. Looking up, the fractured moon barely visible through the ominous dark cloud cover, Ruby closed her eyes, her thoughts drifted to her lost mother.

Once her mom was a hero, protecting those who could not protect themselves. Ruby wished to honor her mother, the wonderful woman she lost to soon. Yang and her father always assumed Ruby barely remembered her mom, but they were wrong. Ruby remembered so much. Her loving smile, her laugh, the stories she read to her before tucking her in at night, Ruby remembered it all.

What if her mother could see her now? What would she think of the daughter she loved so much? Tearing open the flesh of children and enjoying every moment of it. Ruby knew she was a monster and now she betrayed everything her mom once was.

"Ruby?" The shaking, nervus voice emanating from behind was Yang's. Overpowering feelings of dread powered once last sprint, she had to get away, Yang could not see her like this.

"Ruby wait!" Yang called as Ruby sprinted away without even turning to look at her sister. Over the greens separating buildings of brick she ran, what little strength in her swiftly leaving.

Abruptly, black and white blocked her path. Weapons drawn, Blake and Weiss held their ground, unease causing ever so slight trembling of their extremities.

'_Why did she have to call them? Why did they all have to know?'_

"Please Ruby, I just want to talk." Came Yang's voice once again. The blonde drew closer, standing not far from her sister, arms wide and as non threatening as she could be. "Ruby, just tell me what's going on. Whatever it is, we can help you."

"Ruby, just listen to Yang. We want to help." Said Weiss, her rapier uncharacteristically quivering. Blake tightened the grip on her sword and sharpened sheath, as much as she wished for a peaceful ending to this confrontation, Ruby was still armed and frightened, making for a dangerous combination. Blake carefully watched, looking for any sign Ruby's arm would reach for her stowed scythe, hoping she would not be forced to stop her terrified leader.

Ruby repeatedly turned around in a series of tight circles, her hands gripping and pulling her red and black hair. As she looked into the eyes of the ones around her, Ruby's breathing became more panicked, her lips quivered, her face barely holding back sobs.

"Ruby, come on, why don't you just take my hand and we can go back to the room and talk about this?" Yang calmly said as she took a careful step towards her frightened sister, hand extended in hopes she would take it.

"Get away!" Ruby yelled. "Please, don't come closer."

"Hey hey hey, its alright." Said Yang she she put her hands up and came to a hault. "I don't know what's happening here, but please Ruby, you can tell me."

Looking into that warm face, the same one that stared into her own that was covered in blood and refused to flinch, the face of her sister who cared for her for so many years, Ruby could not take it any more.

"Oh god Yang, I can't stop myself!" Ruby pleaded, unable to stop her sobs. "I've been trying but I can't stop. It keeps getting stronger and stronger no matter what I do. I'm trying to stay in control but I can't. I don't know what's happening to me and I'm scared Yang. I'm hurting people and I can't stop myself!"

Weiss and Blake watched in silence as their leader, their friend, bore their heart out and begged for their help. When Yang called them and told them that it was Ruby neither of them wanted to believe it, Weiss going so far as to interpret the blonde's message as meaning Ruby was the most recent victim rather than the one behind it all. Even when they confronted her with her mouth and chin coated in crimson, each of them hoped for a simple misunderstanding, any explanation that was not the horrifying truth.

Yet here she was, the fifteen year old girl, standing in the night, crying and explaining to them how she had a compulsion to hurt others. Weiss and Blake had no way to react to this; nothing in their complicated, pain filled, pasts could prepare them for this moment and the sobbing child before them.

But Yang knew, she always knew what to do. None of it mattered. The victims, the blood, the unstoppable desires, none of it. All that mattered for her was her baby sister needed her, and nothing was going to stop Yang from protecting her baby sister.

"Ruby," Yang said as she softly gripped Ruby's shoulders. We're going to get through this Ruby. I promise you that, and I always keep my promises."

Ruby pulled her arms to her chest as Yang hugged her, anything to keep distance between her and the hug she knew she did not deserve.

* * *

Professor Goodwitch spent much of the night in Beacon's medical wing. After the most recent victim was brought in, the medical staff called Ozpin directly who contacted Goodwitch, Ironwood, and Oobleck. This victim one was different the others however, when they found him he was conscious and semi coherent. Ozpin believed this boy's attack was interrupted somehow, and he wanted to know why.

After receiving word of the boy's condition professor Goodwitch ordered him moved to an isolated room, if he was indeed a failed feeding, the last thing she wanted was for his attacker to discover his location. After the doctors deemed him stable Goodwitch wasted no time in conducting her own interview. She knew Ozpin wished for Oobleck to conduct these interviews, however; she would rather hear it first hand than through that green haired spaz.

Like all the previous victims this boy's memories were jumbled and spotty at best, yet what separated him from the others was the degree to which his memories were affected. The longer she talked with him the more he started to recall. First it was feelings of fear and panic. But soon he started to remember events and places. He recounted being pulled into the dark classroom and the emergency crew arriving to help.

Eventually though, he remembered a person, someone who he thinks saved him. The face still eluded him, but he could tell Goodwitch one thing. "She was blonde, so much blonde."

* * *

No member of team RWBY slept that night. After arriving back to the dorm, Weiss and Blake sat themselves down at the far end of the room, as far from the window as possible in an uncomfortable silence. Neither girl knew what they should do or say as Yang went to work on her sister, cleaning off the blood and dirt with a washcloth and getting her changed into her pajamas and out of her combat gear.

As she sat watching the older sister take care of the younger, Weiss did her best to make sense of the conflicting emotions battling for dominance in her mind. On one side was the part of her that looked upon the girl who attacked her, a girl she trusted and considered her friend, and was furious. How could Ruby do this to her? She nearly killed her and then went on as if nothing had happened. Why? The rest of her looked at this innocent child and felt, pity. Something terrible happened to this girl to drive her to this and Weiss was unsure if she truly wished to know what. For now the heiress decided it was best to wait for Ruby's explanation before she would go any further with her anger or pity. Nothing could be gained from making rash decisions fueled by emotions. She was a Schnee after all, and Schnees exercise discipline and control.

Ruby remained uncharacteristically solemn from the moment she was taken to the room, not saying a word or raising her gaze to look her teammates in the eyes. She had the look of someone who was broken, as if everything that ever made her hopeful was utterly destroyed before her.

Under Blake and Weiss's quiet suggestion, Ruby was bound to a char at the back of the room just in front of the window. She did not protest or resist, merely accepting what was happening to her. As the dorm chairs were armless, both her arms as well as her feet were tied to the chair legs. Using the same kind of thick ropes that suspended Ruby's bed, Weiss firmly bound Ruby's ankles, giving the girl apologetic glances as she worked. Meanwhile Yang pulled the girl's arms down her sides and tied them to the back chair legs. Finally the excess rope was used to secure her chest and fore arms to the back of the wooden chair with the ropes wrapped around her middle numerous times before being tied off in a bow behind her.

After they took time to observe their handiwork, Weiss gently pulled the three girls outside the small room. As soon as they closed the door Weiss glanced around to make sure they were alone before she started talking to her teammates in a hushed, serious tone.

"Now what are we going to do? We have our quite possibly insane team leader tied to a chair and no idea how to proceed."

"Hey," Yang started in an accusatory tone. "She is my sister and we are going to help her through this. If you don't like it you can leave."

"I get that she needs help but excuse me for drawing the line at cannibalism! I don't know about you but that is a little outside of my training as a huntress. What are we going to do, bring her bits from hobos off the street? Because I'm fairly certain none of us know the slightest thing about treating a mental illness this severe. So Tell me Yang, how are we going to help her?

Yang clenched her fists as her temper fumed, for both girls the stress caused by that night's events were choosing that moment to spill out.

"I am not turning my little sister in princess. I don't care what she may or may not have done to you or any others. The last thing I am going to do is let Ruby get locked away in a prison cell or an insane asylum!"

Fearing a violent altercation coming, Blake swiftly stepped between the fuming women, cutting off their verbal sparring.

"How 'bout this," Blake started, "why don't we go back in there and talk to her. Let's find out what she has to say, then we can decide on a course of action. Okay? It was not often Blake had to assume the role as the voice of reason, usually that honor would fall to Yang or Ruby. But at this moment Blake saw in Yang the same passion and emotion that blinded her during their hunt for Torchwick. Yang showed her the way then, now it was time for her to return the favor.

* * *

James Ironwood gripped the simplistic copper door handle which lead into Professor Oobleck's office. In the few times Ironwood had the opportunity to step foot in the halls of this academy this is the first time he would be seeing the green haired man's office. Ironwood only hoped it was more organized than his classroom.

Twisting the handle Ironwood pushed open the wooden door. Inside the office Glynda and Oobleck were awaiting him, Glynda rather impatiently per her usual. Standing in the doorway Ironwood surveyed the office. The back wall was covered by three large silver screens. Just in front of those was a large wooden desk, not unlike those used by instructors in the classrooms. Miscellaneous papers and coffee mugs were stroone haphazardly across it's surface, hardly a space left uncovered. Papers and books stacked waist high at least sat around the room, a clear sign to the general that this man lacked the discipline and organization that came with the service. '_Why would I expect his office to be any different?'_ Thought Ironwood.

"Ah James, how lovely it is for you to finally join us." Said Goodwitch, as usual with Ironwood, making no effort to hide her annoyance.

"My apologies Glynda." Ironwood responded, retaining his friendly tone. "But you must understand that this meeting is rather early and last minute." After receiving word of the latest attack the general, upon determining immediate action served nothing, returned to his slumber. Unfortunately that slumber was cut short by an understandably nervous aid who awoke the general to inform him of professor Goodwitch's urgent summons.

"Well good good." The energetic professor started as he zipped into place behind his desk. "How that you're both here we shall get started. Anyway in the light of this most dreadful of recent attacks professor Goodwitch requested an immediate summary of my findings thus far."

'_Of course Glynda would overreact and force us down here. Maybe it would be best to force her away from this one.'_ Thought James.

Instantly the silver screens came to life and images of the various victim's wounds adorned their surfaces. As the various images flashed by Oobleck began his energetic spiel.

"Now that we know from professor Goodwitch that these attacks are not being carried out by a professional vampire, interesting conclusions can be drawn from these victims." In the blink of an eye Oobleck was sipping from the fresh cup of coffee that seemed to materialize in his hand and then proceed to zip around in front of the screens as he spoke. "We can see a rapid progression in the skill level of this vampire. The bites quickly went from jagged tears to more precise punctures." He pointed to images on opposing screens to confirm his point.

"With this number of attacks a clear pattern of behavior has emerged." He said has he pressed an icon on the screen to bring up numerous medical reports. "Each victim was attacked from behind with an arm reaching around their torso," He said as he demonstrated on a hanging skeleton that Ironwood struggled to decipher where it had suddenly appeared from. "Most likely using their right hand. Then the vampire used their left hand to clamp the victim's mouth shut before proceeding to violently yank their head to the side opening up the victim's right shoulder and neck for feeding."

Suddenly Oobleck tossed the skeleton at a particularly surprised Ironwood. He barely managed to seize the flailing anatomy model as Oobleck continued. "This odd choice in technique leads us to conclude that our vampire is most likely left handed. A conclusion further supported by the bruises across several of the victim's mouths. You see a right handed attacker would prefer to use their dominant hand to control the head and the access to their prize. With a right handed attacker we would expect to see the wounds on the left shoulder and as you can see that is not the case."

"So we're looking for a left handed psychopath. Not exactly groundbreaking professor." Said a slightly annoyed Goodwitch. She called this meeting hoping he would tell her something concrete enough to get Carmilla's puppet, not listen to useless facts.

"Why my dear Glynda you should know that patterns are extremely important. But in this case its not what fits the pattern that is the most intriguing its what doesn't. You two were so caught up in who you thought was behind this that you ignored key evidence."

Glynda was visibly offended by his accusation. The worst part however, was that she knew he was right. She was so certain of who was behind this that she did not feel the need to look all that closely at the victims, feeling that they were just instruments to Carmilla's ends.

After taking a sip of his coffee Oobleck continued. "Miss Weiss Schnee." He said as her image and images of her wounds appeared on the screens. "Her injuries don't fit the pattern."

"Wait a second professor," Ironwood cut in. "Her bite marks appear in the same place as the other victims, they match the dental impressions of the other's, and her scroll's emergency contact feature was activated same as the others. How is her attack any different?"

"Why General, her's is a different as they come. Look closely at her bite mark and you'll see the direction of the curve made by the teeth faces the opposite direction indicating a forward facing attack. What's interesting about this is that in a forward facing attack we would expect the bite to be on the opposite side of the neck. But on the contrary the bite is on the same side as the others. Also look at the defensive wounds on miss Schnee."

Goodwitch and Ironwood stepped closer to look for the wounds. "What defensive wounds professor? I don't see any in these images." Said Ironwood.

"Exactly." Oobleck said proudly. "This girl was attacked in the front and yet we see no defensive wounds. Whoever this vampire is, miss Schnee allowed it to get close enough to bite her. Now whether through the standard memory loss associated with a feeding or some other means miss Schnee is unable to tell us why she would allow someone close enough to do that to her. I would recommend interviewing team RWBY to find out what they know because it would appear miss Schnee is familiar with her attacker."

That moment was when the pieces clicked in Glynda's mind. "Blonde, so much blonde." Yang, it had to be. Team RWBY was chasing this vampire and that girl is the one who found the boy. Yang found a boy with a severe laceration to the neck and she left him there. She learned something that night and not sharing it with the authorities was as unforgivable as attacking the students herself.

"Thank you professor, you were particularly helpful." She said as she abruptly rose to her feet and marched from the room.

"Where are you going Glynda?" Ironwood called after her.

"To question team RWBY."

* * *

"Take your time sis, start from the beginning." Yang said as she rested her hand on Ruby's knee. Blake and Yang sat on the faunus's bed while Weiss sat on a chair situated between the feet of the two sets of beds. Ruby's chair, on the other hand, was just in front of the window half facing the door and half facing Blake and Yang's bed.

Ruby refused to lift her gaze and look her teammates in the eyes as she recounted her tale. Her voice was that of someone utterly defeated and empty. "I wanted it to be a dream so badly. I just didn't want it to be reall. But it was. She was on top of me. I don't know who she was but she was here while you all slept. She was on me and I wanted to call out but I couldn't. She… She bit me and then… And then, she started to drink." Ruby tried in vain to nudge the strap of her tank top to the side to show them.

Leaning forward Yang gingerly pulled the strap to the side and gasped at what she saw. It was faded of course, but still visible enough to tell a story, one that made the older sister's blood boil with rage. There it was on her left shoulder, a pair of scarred over puncture wounds, evidence of something sinister. Out of shock, Weiss's hand shot up to her own bite wound. It would have been easier for Weiss if Ruby was just sick, but this, this was something much worse.

"She, Yang she then made me drink her's. I couldn't stop her. I tried so hard but I couldn't make her stop."

"Ruby." Yang cut her off with her caring tone. "Its okay we can get through this."

Ruby finally lifted her head to look at Weiss. "I'm so sorry Weiss." She said in a solemn tone. "I didn't even know what was happening until it was too late. I just felt so weak and sick and you were there and I was here and I don't know. Just the next thing I know I'm, drinking, your blood."

"I… I um…" Weiss wasn't sure how to respond. All this, it was too much too quickly. Did that woman really exist? Was Ruby really attacked? If she was, was her broken mind trying to make sense of it by inflicting the same thing on others?

All her wondering was abruptly cut off by a furious pounding on their door.

"Team RWBY open up!" A voice called in. Silent panic flooded the room, each girl looking to the others for any idea what to do.

Before anyone could think of what to do they heard the distinct click of the door's lock disengaging. The door flew open and in marched a particularly angry professor Goodwitch. The steaming woman surveyed the room, ready to chastise each an every girl in here, both for running their own investigation and for hiding whatever it is they learned. As she looked over the scene before her, the seething anger vanished as her eyes came to rest on the young girl on the verge of tears tied to a chair.

Goodwitch's eyes looked into Ruby's. The child's eyes showed she was tired, tired of running, tired of lying, tired of everything. Ruby surrendered to her fate, something Glynda saw clearly in those silver eyes.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**So I was actually planning on this being much longer, however; I once I reached over 5000 words I realized it was time to end the chapter. I really didn't like the idea of ending this chapter in such a similar way as the last one, but from a storytelling standpoint this is a good place. More than likely the next chapter will end where I wanted this one to end. Who knows how long that will be. **

**Thank you for reading and please follow and review. It means a lot to me and reading your comments is my favorite part.**


	6. Chapter 6

James Ironwood burst into the observation room through the once closed doors. This rectangular room located in the farthest basement of Beacon Academy, consisted of a pair of metal double doors with a row of computers and recording equipment on the opposite wall. To his right was a window from ceiling to waist height, looking into a larger room a few steps below.

"You found it!" He called out to the awaiting Goodwitch as he came to a stop. His voice was the ecstatic tone of a satisfied commander, both exuberant and controlled. "Congratulations on capturing that thing. Fantastic work."

His overheaping of praise returned no response however, instead of the proud confident Glynda he was familiar with and expected, this one said nothing, merely remaining seated, staring into the room opposite the one way mirror.

Less than an hour previous the general received word that Goodwitch had apprehended their culprit, a victory worth celebrating for sure. As quick as he could he made his way to where the beast in question was being held, hungry to look this thing in the face.

There were many things the general expected to see when he finally looked upon the monster preying on his students, rage, madness, the cold eyes of a calculating killer. He had many images in his head of the one behind this. A savage who toyed with him and the instructors of Beacon in a sick game. A vicious psychopath using their newly acquired abilities to feed on children. A monster he would enjoy putting down. However; turning his gaze towards the glass, what he saw was a scene that never even registered as a possibility.

In the room before him was professor Oobleck sitting at a steel table opposite the one responsible. But this was definitely not the monster Ironwood expected to find. Clad in a thin dark tank top, white sweatpants adorned with red roses, and a pair of out of place red and black combat boots, was a distraught young girl. She sat with her feet on the chair and hugging her legs with her face buried in her knees. Even with her face most the way obstructed, James could still make out the red cheeks and puffy eyes. Sitting in that room was not a monster, but a crying child.

The dumbstruck general tried vocalise some form of coherent sound, instead only succeeding in producing random vowel noises in a questioning tone.

After a long sigh, Glynda stood to face him. "Yes James, she is the one we were looking for. Dental impressions match the ones in each of our victims. This is Carmilla's newborn."

The disbelief was evident in Ironwood's demeanor as he slowly approached the glass barrier between him and the girl. He hunted fugitives in his past, more than once the kind that took pleasure in the suffering of children. From those individuals Ironwood became attuned to the mind of a killer. He could see it in their eyes, the eyes that could kill without mercy, remorseless and evil. Yet this girl, this child, those were not the eyes of someone who could have done all this. Feeding on children and leaving them for their teammates to find. No, he was certain of it, this child could not be the one he was hunting.

Upon seeing Ironwood's head slowly shaking in disbelief, Glynda continued to speak. "Her name is Ruby Rose. You met her once, after the break in." He nodded in recognition. "Her story seems to line up with what Karnstein told me. Ruby says she was attacked in her own dorm just a couple nights before the incident with miss Schnee." Turning back towards Ruby, Glynda started to visibly become more agitated. "Like all of the attacks there was some form of short term memory loss, and miss Rose thought; or at least hoped, it was a dream."

"No, that can't be right." James started. "What was done with the victims, leaving them for us to find, calling in their teammates and faculty. It was toying with us. This can't be the work of a child, someone like miss Rose no less."

"She wasn't trying to toy with us, she was trying to save them." Glynda said with a pang of sadness in her voice. "She described the uncontrollable hunger, being unable to even stop herself. She didn't even know she was a vampire, the poor girl thought she was going insane. Even with all of that she couldn't let anyone die. She wanted each person to be found so they could get help. She had such little control over her actions but she used it to save them."

Goodwitch stepped forward, placing her hand upon the glass before closing her eyes and speaking once again. This time, anger in her voice. "I just... I wanted to get Carmilla so badly. That woman, what she has done. I thought this was the chance I needed. Even when I found out it wasn't her, I still wanted some beast I could destroy, any form of punishment I could unleash onto her. It never even occurred to me that Carmilla's puppet would be just another victim in all this."

It was plain as day to Ironwood that Glynda's anger was not directed at the one responsible, but herself. Before he had a chance to step forward and lend comfort to his long time friend, Glynda abruptly spun on her heels and spoke to him.

"This is my responsibility. I couldn't stop her back then and she killed her. Because of me she was able to come back and do this to my students. I promise you James, I will kill Karnstein."

After a moment, Goodwitch glanced at her watch, in that action her whole demeanor changed back to her controlled serious nature. She then made her way towards the door. "Now if you would excuse me James, Ozpin requested that I read one of the academy's councilors in on the situation. Miss Rose and her teammates are going to need their help."

"Speaking of Ozpin, where is he?"

Pausing at the doorway, she turned back and answered. "Telling her team the truth."

* * *

Yang never handled silence well, these moments of inaction left her feeling powerless. So as Weiss, Blake, and herself sat alone in the windowless conference room, her agitation rapidly grew.

She failed her sister, or so Yang felt. It was her job to protect her from the evils of the world for as long as she could. Yet this, all this, she could not stop. When Goodwitch burst into their room and found Ruby bound to a chair, Yang could not even come up with an excuse fast enough. By the time she tried to interject with a story about impromptu knot tieing training it was too late. Silver eyes looked into green, and in that moment the two shared an understanding.

There was no yelling or anger. No forceful arrests or weapons drawn. Just a look of despair and sadness on Goodwitch's face as she gently ran her fingers over Ruby's scars. Closing her eyes, the young girl shied away from the older's examination. Glynda moved closer to Ruby and softly spoke to her, a tone none in that room ever heard from the older woman. "I'm going to help you through this. I promise you that."

Thinking back to that morning's events, Yang cursed herself for not doing something more. When her sister was lead out of the room, Blake, sensing what her partner would do, insisted she not make a scene for Ruby's sake. Listening to her partner, she as well as the rest of her team could only watch as Ruby was lead silently down the hallway to an uncertain fate.

Soon afterward, Yang, Blake, and Weiss, were lead by a security guard to this conference room in the basement of the central most building of the academy. Yang's incessant pestering of the poor guard yielded her no information, the young man seemed just as in the dark as the soon to be huntress. He left them alone in this room for what felt like hours for Yang. Although Weiss would soon tell her it was actually only a fraction of that time.

Yang's frustrated pacing was interrupted by the opening of the conference room's only door. In came a white haired man in a suit followed by a man and a woman dressed in Beacon kitchen uniforms. One held the door open while the other pushed in a trolley carrying a stack of mugs and a tall white pot of what was presumably coffee. Next to the mugs were plates and covered serving trays. The man removed the coverings to reveal an assortment of breakfast items including bacon, scrambled eggs, and pancakes.

Ozpin thanked the deliverers and ushered them out. "I thought you three would be hungry so I took the liberty of having the kitchen prepare you some breakfast." He said to the girls. "Please help yourselves."

The headmaster's calm demeanor served more to confuse than comfort the girls. Harboring a violent fugitive rarely warranted fresh hot breakfast delivered.

Refusing to let her skipped breakfast get the better of her, Yang quickly started the speech she had been quietly preparing.

"This is all just a huge misunderstanding. Ruby never hurt anybody we were, uh, just practising prisoner bondage techniques. Wait no, that's not what I meant."

The blonde's embarrassing stammering elicited a silent face palm from Weiss.

"What I meant to say was that as a team we were learning how to subdue prisoners and Ruby was volunteering to be the practice dummy. Ruby is definitely not the type to go around attacking people. That would be ridiculous."

Ozpin continued to watch this curious display with great interest. Deciding he had heard enough he calmly put his hand up in a silencing gesture. "Miss Xiao Long, as much as I appreciate your loyalty to both your team leader and family we have already confirmed miss Rose's involvement in the recent assaults on Beacon students."

Defeated, Yang grasped a piece of bacon and proceeded to chew on the tasty meat product. She had a habit of eating when she was nervous or anxious, she guessed it was her way of fueling her semblance.

"I've gathered none of you know the full extent of Miss Rose's condition." The professor continued.

"Condition?" Asked a confused Blake.

"My sister is not crazy!" Yang angrily responded.

"Please if you would just take a seat I will explain." Said Ozpin as he gestured to the table.

After Yang sat down, Ozpin began to explain everything he and his team knew about what happened to their team leader. The three girls listened in stunned silence as their headmaster talked of vampires and Ruby's transformation.

"Vampires." Weiss eventually said, breaking the silence after Ozpin's spiel. "As in, blood sucking undead creatures?"

"A more apt description would be functionally immortal, but yes." Replied Ozpin.

"And my sister was somehow bitten by one of these things and is now one of them?" Said Yang.

"Right now I am not sure on the particulars of she acquired this condition. Currently professor Oobleck is interviewing miss Rose to ascertain the nature of her infection." Said Ozpin.

"Well you can fix her right? Turn my sister back to normal right?" Yang asked anxiously.

"Look miss Xiao Long," replied Ozpin, "until this case we were unaware this condition could be transferred to new hosts at all. But I can assure you that we are doing everything we can to help your sister."

"What about the one that did this to my sister? You're gonna kill her right?" Asked Yang.

"That is a much more difficult task than you may think." Responded Ozpin. "The reason we haven't dealt with this woman thus far is we are unable to terminate any of these individuals. They appear to possess extraordinary survival adaptations."

"So finding and beating the crap out of this chick is out of the question I take it?" Said Yang.

"Precisely. You and your team are to remain at Beacon and are forbidden from confronting this woman yourselves. Is that understood?"

The three girls nodded in response.

"Good. Now for the time being your teammate needs you to be there for her. She's alone in this and it would help a great deal if she could have your support. Right now the entire force of this academy is working to see that miss Rose will return to her normal self. I just ask that you give us time. Please be patient."

As much as he wished to reassure the girls, none were fooled by what he said. They all knew what he really meant, that they had no idea how to help Ruby.

* * *

It was decided that for the time being it would be best if Ruby remain in the observation room. The door remained locked from the outside and she was monitored constantly. For her own comfort a cot was moved into the room and she was allowed to use the nearby restroom so long as she had an escort of Beacon guards. Yang even brought down some fresh clothes for her and Blake and Weiss provided some reading materials. Although Weiss's were more of a scholastic nature than Blake's chooses. As much as they tried to dress it up, Ruby was still in a prison.

Officially Ruby was listed as the latest victim and had therefore been moved to a special ward for her own safety. Luckily for her, the time she was taken in by Goodwitch was early enough that it did not appear that anyone saw what happened. For now Ruby's condition remained a secret, at least from the student body.

For Ruby the rest of the day was spent undergoing various tests, ranging from medical examinations to psychological evaluations. Everyone involved hoping to gain some insight into her changing form. This included everything from checking her new retractable fangs to measuring her aura output.

One of the most revealing tests came from professor Oobleck. He simply walked into the room and placed a cup on the table in front of Ruby and asked her to have a drink. By this point in the day Ruby was so beyond tired off all the tests that she grabbed the cup and gulped down its contents without thinking.

The taste was horrible. Metallic and bitter, all around one of the worst things Ruby had ever drank. She quickly spat out the foul liquid into a bucket produced by the green haired professor.

"What the heck was that?" Asked Ruby.

"Blood, from the medical supplies of course. Which confirms my hypothesis." Responded Oobleck. This caused a series of confused looks from the young girl. "Well," The energetic professor started, "it would appear that when you are feeding it is not the blood you are consuming. Not just the blood that is. Based on the weakened aura of the victims and what we learned here, it would seem that you are in fact feeding off of a person's aura and the blood is just a means of transfer. Of course this unfortunately means we can not satisfy your cravings with donated blood packs, but we will figure something out."

The aura, the energy produced by a living soul. Ruby tried to make since of this new revelation. If she was truly feeding on people's aura, what did that mean for her? She figured that she could not just go around feeding off of her friend's auras. So far her only means of not turning into a mindless killer was draining the blood of people, but draining aura was more dangerous than just draining blood. Without a strong aura a victim could not hope to heal from her attacks in time to receive medical attention. Ruby wished it was as simple as just draining blood.

Ruby nervously nodded as she washed her mouth out with a water bottle given to her by Oobleck. Even with all of these tests and all the data they were collecting none of it helped sooth Ruby's creeping urge to lunge forward and tear open the professor's neck, or the slowly weakening desire to fight that urge.

* * *

The remaining members of team RWBY spent the next day taking turns keeping their leader company. Yang was first, nearly taking Ruby's ear off. She talked about the latest gossip, boring classes, anything to distract the pair from the situation at hand.

"Yang," Ruby said nervously during a lull in the conversation, "could you tell Dad that…"

"Nope!" Yang abruptly cut her off. "You are going to tell him yourself."

"Seriously Yang."

"Nope. You are going to be just fine, there is no need for this talk Ruby."

"But Yang, eventually I'll become… I mean to say that soon I won't be ya know, myself and I want you and Dad to know that,"

"No!"

"Yang you heard what Goodwitch said, I'm going to turn into one of those things. I can feel it inside of me, this growing hunger. I don't know how much longer I'll still be me and I want you and Dad to know…"

"Ruby no, I refuse to listen to this." Yang cut her off, anger growing in her lilac eyes. "You are going to get better and you will be back to your normal non blood thirsty self, I promise you that." Yang would not stand to consider losing someone else. Her mother was gone, another one abandoned her, the last thought she would entertain was losing her little sister too. Reaching forward, Yang took Ruby's hand. "You will be okay sis. You just have to hold on a little longer."

* * *

Not long afterward Blake took over with "Operation Keep Ruby Company," as it became known. As Weiss was currently apprehensive about spending time alone with Ruby, Blake was spending extra time with the young leader.

The session started off with Blake reading one of Ruby's favorite books to her, a suggestion she got from Yang. The story was about a young hero out to save his village from a terrible monster and overcoming great personal obstacles to do so. To Blake it seemed to put Ruby at ease as they sat on her cot together.

After their reading the duo moved to the observation room's table and began playing a game of cards. As time went on Blake noticed Ruby becoming more uncomfortable. She was fidgeting in her seat and having problems focusing on their game.

"Is there a problem Ruby?" Blake asked, the girl's behavior peaking her curiosity.

"No I'm okey dokey Blake. Everything is A-okay." Ruby's false cheer did not settle Blake's concern, but for the moment she decided to drop the issue.

As they continued Ruby became more uneasy. Her eyes kept jumping between her cards and Blake. Ruby's hands twitched and her breathing quickened. Then in a flash Ruby lunged across the table grabbing Blake by the arm yanking her over the table. Before Blake could react she was face down on the tile floor, Ruby on top of her tearing at her shoulder wildly with her free hand.

Her dominant hand pinned, Blake could do little to fight off the berserking girl on top of her. The noises emanating from the girl, almost primal in nature. There was not rational thought in this girl, only pure animalistic hunger.

Suddenly the door flew open and Ruby was blasted off of Blake before coming to rest on the cot. When Ruby regained her senses she was sitting on her bed with Susan, one of her personal guards, was holding her by the forearms. A handful of medics were swarmed over Blake who was still lying on the floor.

"Oh god Blake I'm so sorry!" Ruby cried, tears beginning to flow down her pale cheeks.

Blake pushed off one of the medics as she sat up. "Its alright Ruby. Its just a scratch." She said with a smile, trying to reassure Ruby.

After the medical staff ussured Blake out of the room, Ruby insisted Susan leave her alone.

"Are you sure Ruby?" Asked the concerned guard, unsure if it was best to leave the distraught girl alone.

Ruby responded with a teary nod. "Okay." Susan responded, before she turned and left the room.

As soon as she was alone, Ruby leaped off her cot and grabbed one of the two chairs in the room. In one fluid motion Ruby jammed the chair under the doorknob, bocking anyone else from entering her room. Ruby knew she was too dangerous to be around, and she refused to let anyone else be harmed.

* * *

"Really?" Asked a slightly amused Yang. "She locked herself in?"

"Yang this is serious!" Weiss angrily responded.

"I know, I know. But I mean, she knows she has come out eventually right?" Yang said as she gestured to the door to Ruby's room. "Its not like there's a bathroom in there."

A glare from Weiss was all the got from that comment.

Yang threw her hands up in a calming gesture. "Okay Weiss, look she's scared that she's gonna hurt someone that she's now locked herself in there. Ruby's terrified and confused, let's just leave her there for now until she calms down. Forcing down the door is only gonna make the situation worse, alright."

Flowing Yang's advice they decided to leave Ruby alone for the time being. If it allowed Ruby to feel more comfortable than it was worth it. Hopefully the professors would figure something out soon, Yang was not sure how much longer she could watch her sister deteriorate like this.

* * *

Later that afternoon Goodwitch, Ozpin, and Ironwood found themselves in professor Oobleck's office once again. This time however, they were going over miss Rose's test results.

"While for the most part miss Rose exhibits all the signs of a perfectly healthy young woman," the green haired professor started, "she does possess some rather interesting physical changes." He pulled an image of Ruby's teeth up on the center screen. "Right here you can see an extra pair of retractable canines. I guess you could call them fangs. This is really fascinating stuff."

"Yes we get that you're interested in teeth but let's get back to what's important here." Said Goodwitch. "Have you found a way to fix her?"

"Unfortunately no. In fact some of our tests have turned up some worrying information."

"Like what professor." Asked Ozpin.

"Its her aura levels." Oobleck answered as he pulled up the test results on the screen. "Now normally we would associate these low results with someone who had expended their energy in a fight or a duel. But these results were taken hours after miss Rose had expended any major energy. This leads me to a concerning conflusion. If her aura is this low without the added stress of expending it in combat than its what's powering her aura is where the problem lies."

"Her soul." Said Goodwitch in a worried tone.

"Unfortunately. I hate to even suggest such a thing, but I believe its dieing. Whatever process is changing miss Rose, its killing her soul. This helps to explain her willingness to hunt the students, her ability to tell right from wrong is fading with her humanity. If we don't find a way to stop this soon, there won't be anything left to save.

* * *

It had been a long day for Goodwitch, discovering what happened to Ruby was almost too much for her. The look in that child's eyes shattered something inside her. A monster she could handle, but this, this was not something she was prepared for.

Walking into her apartment that night she was ready to embrace sleep for a temporary reprieve from the day's events.

"Long day love?" A deceptively friendly voice greeted her.

Spinning her head around, Goodwitch spotted the unwanted visitor lounging on one of her hairs. Carmilla's jet black hair matching her jacket and thigh high boots with her white toothy grin cutting through the darkness.

Having no patience for games, Goodwitch continued her match into the room as she flipped on the lights. After hanging up her cape she approached Carmilla, staring at her with crossed arms.

"Why are you here?" She said with a huff. "We caught your newborn and unless you've had a change of heart, which I doubt you even have, and plan to help us cure miss Rose, I suggest you leave."

Carmilla laughed at Goodwitch's angry ultimatum. "Oh Little Witch, there's no cure for this condition, believe me, I've checked. I've been alive a long time as you may know. But more importantly you're under the impression that just because you have her locked in your basement that this is all over. That's cute by the way. Almost an adorable level of innocence." She said with a smirk as she rose from her seat and stepped close to Goodwitch.

Glynda's thoughts turned to the child alone in that observation room. She had to be safely contained, right? But Glynda knew this could not be over, why else would Carmilla still be here? Goodwitch studied the woman in front of her, looking for any clues that would reveal her ultimate goals. Turning one of her students into vampire was not done on a whim, this woman had a reason for doing this, and Goodwitch would find out why.

Receiving only a glare from the subject of her quips, Carmilla put on her best pout face before unleashing her biggest smile. "Oh you're going to have to find a way to destroy it love, before it destroys you. This girl's powers are growing almost as fast as her hunger and she is in no way contained." Her tone then turned more sinister. "Oh love, do you have any idea what it is you have in your basement?

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**As always if you enjoyed this please leave a review, I love hearing from you guys.**


	7. Chapter 7

It hurt Yang to watch her little sister like that, sitting on that cot, hugging her legs, rocking fore and back. The girl's breathing was quickened and Yang could hear the occasional whimper emanating from Ruby. Every moment broke Yang's heart.

As much as she wanted to rush in and comfort her little sister, Ruby remained locked away, preventing any and all visitors. But Yang could still watch her through the observation room window, from there she could watch over her sister in the only way she could. After Ruby blocked the door to her observation room Yang refused to abandon her vigil. The waste basket now stuffed with disposable plates her teammates brought her stood testament to that. Even with the younger girl finally asleep, Yang refused to leave her.

"Yang?" The quiet voice breaking Yang from her thoughts was Blake. The girl in black stood in the open doorway watching Yang with concern on her face. "Why don't you come to bed, its getting late."

"Nah, that's okay. I'll just stay with Ruby a little while longer." Said Yang as she tried to fake an upbeat tone.

"Somehow I knew you'd say that." Replied Blake as she strode closer, pulling up a chair next to Yang. Once she sat down, Blake pulled a blanket from her bookbag and draped it over Yang and herself. "If you're staying I'm staying."

"Come on Blake, you don't have too."

"Nope, I'm staying and that's final." Blake said with a look of defiance. With that Yang relented and shifted closer to her friend.

"Ug, can you believe they only put two chairs in here. That is so inconsiderate." Huffed Weiss as she came through the doorway carrying another chair and proceeded to plop it down on the other side of Yang. "Give me some of that." She said after sitting down, motioning for part of the blanket.

In that moment, as Yang let herself surrender to sleep, she felt a warmth like she had not felt in a long time, a feeling that maybe, just maybe everything would be alright.

* * *

The next morning it was clear that Ruby's condition had not improved. As Yang greeted the morning with her two teammates huddled against her, she could see a particularly agitated Ruby already awake. Her heavy breathing and swift pacing across the room made it clear to the older sister that she needed to take action to help.

As the morning progressed Yang got an idea. She admitted to herself it was not what one would call a good idea, but it was the best she could come up with. Thus she was going ahead with her crazy plan.

Standing outside Ruby's door with Blake and Weiss, Yang checked her scroll. It would not be long until Goodwitch would come back, so if Yang was going to do anything, now would be the time. Neither of her teammates knew what Yang had in store, she knew it was for the best.

"Ruby!" Yang called out as she pounded on the metal door. "Come on, just open the door."

"Yang she's not going to open the door." Said Weiss, unsure as to why Yang was even bothering trying to talk to her sister.

"Just," Yang started, frustration clear in her voice as she turned to Weiss. She then took a deep breath to calm herself before continuing. "Just let me handle this, okay?"

Weiss then nodded as she backed up, giving Yang her space.

After a few more tries, Yang came to the conclusion that soft and gentle was not getting the job done. It was time to activate big sister mode.

Furiously pounding on the door Yang yelled at her little sister. "Ruby Rose you open this door this instant! I swear missy if you don't open this door in ten seconds I will break it down!"

"Ten!"

"Nine!"

"Eight!"

"Seven! Don't make me Ruby!"

"Six"

Suddenly Yang heard the sounds of the Ruby unblocking the door. Giving the door a quick test, Yang found it clear.

Yang looked back towards Blake and Weiss. "Don't worry guys. If anything happens just burst in and save me." She said with a cheeky smile.

"Good luck Yang." Blake said softly.

"R-Ruby?" Yang called as she cautiously entered the observation room. Ruby had already retreated back to her cot, hugging her knees and leaning against the wall, trying to put as much distance between her and her sister as possible.

"Go away Yang. Its not safe. I'm not safe." She said as she eyed Yang with a look that the elder had never seen on her little sister before. This look was a mixture of fear and hunger, like part of her was about to lunge forward and tear into her next meal.

"Its okay Ruby, its alright." Said Yang as she jammed the chair back under the door, blocking it once again.

Outside, the black and white pair heard the distinct sound of Yang blocking the door.

"She didn't." Said Weiss in disbelief. After failing to open the door Weiss and Blake pounded in its surface. "Yang! What are you doing?"

Black inside the observation room Yang slowly approached her sister as she spoke. "Look Ruby, you're getting worse. Let me guess, the longer between feedings the worse it gets?"

Ruby nodded.

"I know you're afraid you're gonna hurt somebody, but I won't let you. Don't worry its okay, just let me help you.

"No." Ruby said, shaking her head. "Go away Yang, please."

Yang let out a long sigh. "I thought you'd say that. But believe me, you need to eat something, and soon." From her shorts pocket, Yang retrieved her yellow pocket knife. Flicking open the blade she spoke to Ruby once again. "Look Ruby I'm sorry about this, but its for your own good. I'll try to go easy on you."

With that Yang dragged the blade across her palm. A stream of crimson pooled in her hand before her aura closed the wound.

Ruby froze. The sweet scent of blood consumed her. In an instant her silver eyes became red. The grip on her legs loosened.

After placing the knife back into her pocket Yang looked up at her sister. The innocence on her sister's face was gone, replaced with that of a wild animal. Ruby then lunged forward, intent on tearing into her next meal, the one she needed so badly.

Seeing this, Yang smiled and threw her arms out wide, welcoming her sister. "Come here Ruby."

* * *

The sudden crash and the sounds of an intense struggle alerted Blake and Weiss to what was happening behind that door. Without their weapons there was not much they could do to try to pry open the blocked door.

It was just as Goodwitch came around the corner, racing towards the ruckus generated by the pair that an eerily calm emanated from the observation room.

"Professor Goodwitch!" Blake called. "Help! Yang's in there and we can't open the door."

In an instant Goodwitch's demeanor turned to that of a seasoned professional. No confusion, and not a hint of hesitation. With a just of flick of the wrist her riding crop emitted a pulse of purple light, blasting the door off it's hinges and sending it crashing to the floor.

As the dust settled the trio rushed into the room, unsure as to what they would discover within.

"There you go, just take what you need." Yang's soothing voice was the first thing they registered upon entering. The second was the sight of the sisters. Ruby was crouched on the floor with Yang kneeling behind her, legs on either side of Ruby. In both hands Ruby gripped Yang's left arm, holding it to her mouth, lips pressed to it's surface, suckling on the blood within. Yang threw her right hand out, gesturing for the trio to stop where they were.

Seeing them stop, Yang returned her free hand to Ruby's hair and began stroking it to comfort the girl. "Shh, its alright Ruby. Take what you need."

The pain was by far not the worse Yang had ever felt. Many of her fights resulted in much more painful wounds than this. Sure it was bad, but she had to stay strong for her sister.

Soon Yang's vision began to tunnel, her head started to spin, and felt a general feeling of quezyness. The effects of her blood loss became apparent. Deciding she had given all she could Yang started to pull her arm away. For a few moments Ruby followed the arm, eager for more of the fluid. She felt annoyance for being denied what she so desperately needed, having to then remind herself that this was Yang she was thinking about, any more and she would risk hurting her own sister.

Blake rushed to catch Yang as she slipped backwards, preventing her from falling into the floor. "That was really idiotic you know that right?"

"Ya Blake I know." Replied Yang through half closed eyes. "But it seemed like a good idea at the time eh?"

* * *

Yang was soon deposited on a hastily set up cot outside of the observation room. The on call nurse set her up with an I.V. drip to help her recover. Unfortunately for Yang, there was nothing the nurse could do about the torrent of anger that was professor Goodwitch.

Yang lost track of how long Goodwitch scolded her for her "incredibly ill advised attempt to endanger her own safety and the safety of those around her."

The bonde guessed from the professor's choice of words that her plan was successful. Yang's memories became rather fuzzy after entering Ruby's room, so she was unsure how it all went down. She made a point to ask Blake about it later. Weiss would be a bad choice, all she would get from her would be another scolding.

As soon as Goodwitch left to go speak with a pair of security personnel, Weiss and Blake marched over to the bedridden blonde.

"You!" Weiss shouted in the hallway. "You could have gotten yourself killed!"

"Good to see you too Weiss." Yang calmly replied as she sat up.

"Weiss was just worried about what could've happened to you." Blake interjected before any more yelling could occur. "Ruby's not quite herself right now and you could have been seriously hurt in there."

Dropping her head, Yang let out a long sigh. "Its just I feel so helpless ya know? The one time it really matters and I can't do anything about it."

"Yang," Weiss said as she reached out a hand to Yang's shoulder. "You don't have to do this yourself. We're a team, we can do this together."

"I hate to break it to you two," Blake interjected, "but there's not much we can do. This is way out of our league and we have no idea what is happening to Ruby or what we can do to help her."

"Well then," Yang said with a devious smile, "I guess its time we stop sitting around and find out what's really going on."

* * *

Oobleck's office sat serine, dark, and abandoned in the late hour. Computer monitors and their rotating Beacon logo screensavers cast a dim light into the room. The sounds of a creaking broke through the tranquil silence as a window was carefully pulled open from the outside.

Balancing atop one of Weiss's shimmering glyphs Blake worked her skills to jimmy the window latch. Her unique past left her suitably qualified for more complicated forms of room entry.

After the window opened, Blake silently passed through the opening and soon afterward Weiss gracefully followed with Yang entering last. Finding themselves in the overly cluttered office, the trio made their way over Oobleck's equally disorganized desk.

The teammates hastily sifted through the piles of paperwork, looking for anything that could help them save their friend. As Yang and Weiss scoured their own piles Blake paused, staring at the shadow of herself cast upon the table.

'He couldn't be that careless, could he?' she thought. Something like that though, it never hurt to try.

Spinning on her heels, Blake turned to face the trio of computer screens. Reaching her index finger out, she touched the center screen. Instantly the rotating Beacon logo vanished, replaced instead by an image and notes with a horrifying implication for Ruby.

"Guys." Blake softly called out. "You're gonna want to see this."

* * *

The longer Ruby spent in this observation room, the less it felt like a refuge and more like a prison. When she first came here she thought that everyone would be safe. These people who watched her were here to keep everyone safe.

But now, these people did not feel so much as protectors but wardens. While she kept telling herself that this was for the best, a growing part of her was angry about being trapped in here, away from all that intoxicating blood.

Ruby's dreams were becoming darker and darker lately. Images of blood and death consumed her nightly slumber. Yet, as time went on, she became less disturbed by them. Merely experiencing them, almost with a sense of boredom.

Light. The sudden brightness freed Ruby from her dark dreams. She bolted upright, the intense light was almost too painful to open her eyes fully. As her vision began to clear she saw a figure. A woman, leaning against the wall adjacent to the lightswitch. Soon her features became more pronounced. Jet black hair, blue eyes, black jacket.

Ruby recognized this woman. She had seen her once before.

"Sup Young Rose." Carmilla said with a devilish grin.

* * *

Yang, Blake, and Weiss stared at the computer screens. Upon it's surface, an image stared back at them. It was a magnified color image taken from a sample of Ruby's blood. But that is not why they were staring, it was the implications of what Oobleck found in her blood that had them transfixed.

Amongst the red of the plasma and oxygen carrying red blood cells was something else, it was large, it was white and black with streaks of red. Oobleck's notes confirmed what the girls feared.

"Its a Grimm." Yang softly exclaimed, finally breaking the silence. "Some kind of single celled Grimm."

"No." Said Weiss defiantly. "There is no such thing as a single celled Grimm. They don't exist. They can't exist."

"Evidently they do." Said Blake.

"So this is what's making Ruby sick?" Yang said as she ran her fingers along the image. "How are we supposed to fight something that small?"

Blake shook her head. "I don't know Yang. I just don't know."

* * *

Ruby let out a primal yell as she charged the woman before her. With all her might she swung at her with a closed fist. Yet it did not hit anything. The woman faded into a black cloud and the fist merely passed through the space where she once stood.

"So do they like train you guys to like strike first and then ask questions?" Ruby spun around to see the source of the voice sitting cross legged on the metal table. "Is anyone at this school capable of holding a civil conversation?"

Ruby glared and clenched her fists as she started marching toward her.

"Okay, okay. Before you hurt yourself Rose, I'm gonna tell you what I told Glynda. You can't hurt me. Believe me I've tried."

Upon hearing this Ruby paused her march, unsure as to what she should do.

"Look, I just wanna talk. Is that alright Ruby? You don't mind if I call you Ruby do you?"

Receiving nothing but a stern glare the woman continued. "Whatever. Name's Carmilla. At least that's what I've been going by for a while now. I guess I figured you deserved some sort of explanation." Carmilla let out a long sigh. "I want you to know it wasn't personal. That's sorta a shitty thing to say but its true. What I mean to say is that its not about you and I'm truly sorry about that. I assume someone's already filled you in on the particulars of what I am and I guess what you are as well."

"A vampire." Said Ruby.

"Yup, hello." Carmilla said waving to Ruby. "That's what I am. An immortal blood drinking creature of the night."

It was too quiet. Ruby had expected her guards to come running in by now. Yet, all there had been was silence.

Catching Ruby's glances towards the one way mirror, Carmilla rolled her eyes and spoke up once again. "No they're not dead. Which is odd for me ya know. They'll be sore tomorrow though. Anyway, you still have this goody too shoes thing going on, so; I figured you'd be too distracted to chat if there were a pair of dead bodies on the other side of that glass. Don't worry, though, you'll get over it."

Much to Carmilla's amusement Ruby continued to glare at her with increasing intensity.

"Still Ruby I wanted to chat with you about what you should expect as you become a true vampire. It looks like you're gonna experience it after all. Our little witch seems so intent on trying to find a way to cure you that you're gonna become a full fledged blood drinker in no time."

Realizing that this woman was just going to sit there and talk, Ruby walked over and plopped down on her cot and folded her arms.

"You've experienced some of it already, the suggestion. Ya know, when I made you stay silent when I turned you? That's more of a simple one. Let's see, there's also being able to become a mist and pass through walls, very useful by the way. Turning into animals is also a lot of fun. Granted like normal abilities they take aura to accomplish. But since we can't generate our own you have to get it from people."

"By killing them." Ruby cut in with venom in her words.

"If you've been alive as long as I have honey, you realise that shaving a few years off of someone's life really isn't that big a deal." Said Carmilla. "Oh no! This random man was gonna do so much more in that tiny bit of time, what a tragic loss to the world." She finished her overly dramatic and sarcastic display with a mock faint. "Besides, you have to admit, draining the life from someone, wow, is that an amazing feeling."

"How long have you been alive?" Ruby's simple, innocent question caused Carmilla to sit back up and stare at that young girl in silence for a while.

"So, so long Ruby." She said with a deep sadness in her voice. "Its been so long that I don't even remember. How messed up is that? Not even knowing how old you are?" She sighed as she looked down at her feet. "All these years just blur together. The people, the places, all of it, just a big mass of jumbled memories. Ya know I don't even remember what my mom looked like. Some days I like to pretend, just for a moment, that I can remember her face, smiling at me. But its not real. Can you imagine that, having the memory of your own mother just fade away with time?"

Ruby thought of her own mother, Summer Rose. She was so young when Summer died. Who knows how many of her memories of her mother were simply her imagination. Who knows how many are lost for ever.

"Its just not fair ya know." Carmilla's tone turned more angry than before. "This is what happens when you have eternity? People and memories just fade away? There was this girl once, she was amazing. Vibrant red hair that glistened in the morning sun like fire. Her laugh was enough to melt the heart of even the most evil Ursa." She paused, for once Ruby saw a genuine smile on her face. "She never judged or condemned me for what I was. I think I loved her. But I had to leave, only for a little bit I thought. A short stint away to let the heat die down. It couldn't have been that long, it shouldn't 'ave been." She let out a long sigh. "That's the problem with eternity, time just moves so fast. Take a short reprieve somewhere and decades sail by. When I came back for her she was long gone. Took me days to find where she had been buried. Turns out she waited for me. She waited and I never came back to her."

Seeing this display of emotion, Ruby struggled to see her as the same dark figure who assaulted her that horrible night. Could this same person, someone who had experienced love and loss, pain and happiness, be the same monster who killed without remorse, and took pleasure in destroying lives?

Carmilla realized then that she had shared too much with the young girl. She hopped to her feet and strolled over to the door. Taking one last moment she turned back to Ruby and spoke. "Well its been fun young rose, but your friends over there will be awake soon so I better run along. Just remember that soon enough your new abilities will be awesome."

With a wink her body dissolved into a black cloud as she passed through the closed door, leaving Ruby all alone.

* * *

Back in team RWBY's dorm, the trio was looking over the many files they copied from Oobleck's office during their search. They had learned many worrying facts about Ruby's that night. From the graphs of Ruby's aura levels over time Yang discovered that her soul was not dying at a steady rate, but instead in random spurts, and it was accelerating. One hour her soul would be stable, then without warning her aura level would take a massive hit, like a chunk of her soul just disappeared.

Yang angrily paced across the room while Weiss and Blake went over the information. Since there was nothing to punch and no one to terrorize, the blonde felt useless. Unfortunately for Weiss and Blake, this lead to Yang venting her frustration on the pair.

Loud huffing and random, if not colorful, swears from Yang repeatedly broke Weiss's concentration. This left the heiress with a particularly short fuse.

"Yang!" Weiss called out. She was sick and tired of Yang's attitude. "Since you refuse to assist us in researching Ruby's condition, would you please refrain from distracting us?"

"What's your problem Weiss?" Said Yang.

"My problem is you. We're trying to help your sister and all you can do is mope, loudly mope if I must add." Weiss said as she stood and approached Yang.

"Well maybe I'm just tired of this pointlessness! You two seem to think that just because you have these fancy charts that you can somehow save Ruby. Well guess what, she's dying! No worse than that. She's going to turn into a soulless abomination and there's nothing we can do about it!"

In an instant Blake was between the aggravated pair, holding her palms out, silencing each girl. Blake was well aware that the late hour and worry left their tempers on edge, but this was not the time to release. "Weiss," Blake said as she turned to her, "go, sit down."

Weiss was visibly taken aback by Blake's brazen command. But upon seeing the look on Blake's face, not one of stirn command, but of soft pleading, she relented. Weiss nodded and took a seat back on her bed.

Turning to Yang, Blake rested a hand on her shoulder. Blake looked the fiery blonde in the eye. "Yang please." She spoke softly. "I understand that you feel useless and like a failure right now."

"Gee Blake, pep talks really aren't your thing." Yang snarked.

"I'm not finished. Just listen. You want to rush in and save Ruby, but you can't so you feel like a failure. But you're not. Yang you're a strong, powerful warrior who hasn't failed anyone. This information is how we're going to save her. And we are going to save her, together. So we need your help Yang, we need to be there for Ruby."

Yang listened to Blake's words. This girl spoke to her in a way that Yang herself would. The comforting touch, the understanding, this was what Yang herself should be doing. She was supposed to be the strong one, the pillar, not the one who needed comforting.

She dropped her head low before speaking up. "Okay Blake."

Blake smiled and pulled her into a hug. "Good, now lets find a way to save Ruby."

The trio spent the remainder of that day looking over the data they had collected as well as performing their own research, even going as far as to bail on classes that day. Yang spared a few hours to question a friend of her's on the shady part of town. Unfortunately Junior had never even heard of this "Carmilla chick," much to Yangs displeasure. Weiss and Blake poured over the information as well as combining it with whatever they could find in the Beacon library medical section.

It was when Yang returned from her city escapades that she found Weiss and Blake silently waiting for her.

"Yang we need to talk." Said Blake.

"What is it this time?" It was clear that Yang's frustration was starting to return.

Blake sighed. "Look this is all theoretical and Weiss and I are far from experts in this."

"Blake!" Exclaimed Yang, cutting off Blake's stammering.

"We were looking at the rate in which Ruby's soul is um, dying, now Yang you have to understand that its not uniform in anyway and appears to rely on a variety of factors that we don't understand." Blake's nervous stammering continued much to Yang's great annoyance.

"What Blake is so elegantly trying to say," Weiss cut in, "is that we ran the numbers on Ruby's aura levels and compared them to the when the devices recorded the drops in said levels."

"Yang," Said Blake, "Ruby doesn't have long."

"H-How long does she have?" Asked Yang.

"Days." Replied Weiss with sadness in her voice. "If we don't stop this infection soon, by the end of the week there will be nothing left but soulless abomination with Ruby's face. Once that happens, we've lost her and there's no coming back from that."

* * *

The shimmering lights of the Vale night glowed brilliantly in comparison to the pitch black sky above. Ozpin watched from his high office as the ominous storm clouds grew thicker, blocking out even the shattered moon itself. In his hand he grasped is silver scroll, upon it played the footage from the previous night of miss Karnstein's talk with the young miss Rose. He reviewed it countless times already, hoping to capture any clues as to the woman's ultimate goals, but so far her true motives remained elusive.

Much like professor Oobleck and the medical staff who worked at a feverish pace, the headmaster had yet to find much time for sleep. It seemed like a betrayal to rest while the life of one of his students hangs in the balance.

Ozpin switched back to his most recent message. It was from Oobleck, explaining his deep worry that his team's progress towards unraveling Ruby's condition would come to little too late. They were trying every combination of antibiotics and poisons imaginable in the vain hopes of finding a way to kill the grimm infecting the young huntress. But as of yet nothing was working.

In the past, Ozpin was never the one to let his emotions rule is decisions. He was calm and calculating; no matter the threat he used reason to deal with it. But this time was different. For the first time in a long time he felt anger. He hated this woman for what she did to his student, a student that he scouted personally to attend his academy. If it was not for his intervention this child would be safe, far away from here. But because he saw promise in her, because he saw a future, she was here. The only reason this child was suffering so, was because he chose for her to come here.

As much as he tried to convince himself that Karnstein would have just as easily attacked another one of his students if miss Rose was not there, it did little to comfort the thoughts that he failed to protect his students from a monster.

His gaze returned to the skyline. Somewhere out in those city lights was the woman responsible for all this suffering. Somewhere out there were the answers they all seeked.

* * *

As the dark stormclouds rolled over Beacon, the crashing of thunder was silenced by the vast structure above the place where Ruby slept. She spent her night dreaming of death and pain, of pleasure and blood. Her sleep that night was as turbulent as the storm above.

Soon the dawn sun rose and the storm passed, and with it the nightmares faded. Her mind drifted into a dreamless slumber. With it her form finally relaxed. Behind the glass into her observation room, Ruby's newest guards watched over her. Their worries for her laxed when her sleep became still.

After Ruby's last visitor the headmaster restricted her nighttime monitoring to Beacon security personnel only. This decision lead to a somewhat heated conversation between professor Ozpin and Ruby's passionate older sister. While Ozpin appreciated the protectiveness displayed by the members of team RWBY, he felt it was in everyone's best interest that if Ruby were to receive another visit, trained security personnel should be on site.

A sudden burning deep in her chest woke Ruby from her slumber. As the fire grew stronger, so did Ruby's hunger and desire for cruelty. She bolted upright in her cot, her heart racing as she was gripped by the icy hand of fear.

Ruby felt what was happening. The bloodlust, the joy that came from draining the life from the weak, growing deep inside her, pushing aside all else. She could feel herself slipping away, everything that made her who she was, drifting into the darkness.

Doubling over in pain, she rolled off the bed to the cold floor below, the pain so intense she could not even call out.

'Help me, please help me.' Tears streamed down her face. She wanted Yang; she wanted her sister to hug her and tell her that everything would be okay.

'I don't want to leave, I want to say me.'

Ruby's eyes clamped shut. She refused to let herself surcome to this. She was a huntress, not a monster.

'I will not go!' Ruby declared to herself defiantly as she pushed herself up off the floor. 'I want to stay, me!'

Suddenly the wildfire in her chest flared and Ruby crumpled to the floor.

In the room opposite the one way mirror, the concerned guards activated the intercom.

"Miss Rose? Miss Rose are you alright?" Their concern escalated as Ruby lay on the floor for several moments.

As they scrambled to their feet, ready to rush to her aid, a quiet voice emanated from the room.

"I'm… I'm okay."

Feeling relief the pair soon retook their seats as Ruby regained her footing and rose from the floor.

The two guards watched as the girl silently stood with her back to them. Finally she spoke up again.

"I think I'm gonna be just fine."

She turned her head around to face them with her body slowly following suit. A grin was plastered across her face as she spoke again.

"Its okay, everything's fine."

With her grin transforming into a full smile she started towards the glass. As she reached the end of the room, instead of slowing down she leaped, taking air and launching towards the mirror. Yet instead of crashing into its surface, the two guards watched her body fade into a black cloud and pass through. The dark haired girl, cheerfully laughing the whole time.

The sounds of childish laughter were cut off by a pair of dying screams. Much like the thunder, the vast structure above, silenced all sounds.

* * *

Weiss Schnee was always the last to awaken. Her teammates blamed it on her more lavish upbringing. But she knew better. She knew there was no reason to limit one's important and necessary rest. People did not become as skilled as herself on lack of vital sleep.

She heard Yang and Blake wake up and ready themselves for their morning showers, but the exhausted girl did not feel the desire to leave the comforting embrace of her bed. Worry and stress over their friend's condition greatly ruined the team's sleep and Weiss was no different. The last few nights were long and sleepless.

A while after hearing the pair leave for the showers, Weiss lifted herself off her pillow. With an audible groan she resolved to meet the day before rolling out of her bed. Wearing her white nightgown she stood before the drawn red curtain that dimmed the morning sunlight. She reached out her left hand to grasp the thin material. Weiss paused there, she debated the merits of flooding the room with unrestricted light.

Without warning Weiss's vision was cut off by a pair of soft, slender fingers.

"Guess who?" Came a familiar cheery voice.

Weiss spun around and pulled the arms from her face. She held the invading pair of arms by the wrists as she looked the culprit in the eyes. Before Weiss was the smiling face of her friend. Ruby was wearing her signature red and black skirt with her favorite red cape across her back.

"R-Ruby? What are you doing here?" Weiss's tone was a mix of confusion and accusatory.

Ruby looked at her with mischievous grin. "Weiss, I was sooo bored down there. I wanted to come up and see you."

Weiss let go of Ruby's arms and looked at the girl in the eyes. She felt her heart rate begin to spike. Weiss was sure something was seriously wrong with the way Ruby was acting.

"Hey Ruby, why don't we take you back down to the observation room? I think everyone is going to be looking for you soon."

"Pfff, naa!" Replied Ruby. "Oh Weiss! Get dressed, we're going out!" She exclaimed as she bounced over to her dresser.

"Ruby Rose! We are not going anywhere! You are going back down to that room!"

Ruby rolled her eyes and marched back over to Weiss. "Ugg, Weiss you're being so boring."

Stepping forward, Ruby rested her arms on Weiss's shoulders and looked her in the eyes. Weiss looked deep into those silver orbs. Never before had Weiss noticed how entrancing those eyes were, she felt herself melting before them, letting every word Ruby spoke sink in.

"Please, we never do anything just the two of us. Come on, you get dressed and I'll grab some stuff." Said Ruby eagerly.

Weiss felt fuzzy and numb as she nodded. Ruby responded by squealing excitedly and rushing to toss various items in her pack.

Her mind in a fog, Weiss proceed to ready herself for the day. She dressed herself in her white combat outfit and tied her hair in an off center ponytail. But strange nagging thoughts hung in the back of her mind. Why was she doing this? Why was she going along with what Ruby was saying?

After completing her morning prep, Weiss stood silently in the center of the room, awaiting Ruby's attention. Soon enough an excited Ruby came bounding over to Weiss. She took the heiress by the hand and lead her towards the window.

A click was heard emanating from the room's door. In that moment, the wood door opened into the room and in walked the freshly showed pair.

Blake and Yang froze, standing there before them was a glassy eyed Weiss and holding her from behind was a grinning Ruby. Weiss looked half conscious and confused while Ruby had the look of a child who had successfully stolen candy.

Ruby pushed herself and Weiss backwards towards the window. Both Blake and Yang called out to the pair.

"Weiss!" Yelled Blake.

"Ruby no!" Called Yang.

But neither of them could stop Ruby as she faded into a black cloud and passed through the window with Weiss in tow.

* * *

Several facts became apparent to Weiss as she came too. First, she was bound by her wrists. Second, she was on a bed. Third, she had a fresh pain coming from the side of her neck. She did not need to look at the wound to recognize it as another bite mark. Rather quickly she deduced that bite was the reason for the blank spot in her memory.

'I'm so gonna kill Ruby for this.' She thought to herself. 'All this biting is getting ridiculous, once we fix her, I swear I'm gonna kill her.'

Leaning her head back she tried to get a good look at her restraints. What appeared her to as bedsheets or cloths of some kind secured her wrists to the wooden headboard. She groaned as she made a mental note to give Ruby a major lecture later on her choice restraint techniques. Honestly, what self respecting huntress would tie a prisoner to a bed with bedsheets of all things? Of course the dolt had to make things as awkward as possible to explain when rescue arrived.

'Yang is never going to let me live this down.'

"Weiss, you're awake!" Squealed an excited Ruby. Her voice emanating from the foot of the bed.

Weiss looked towards the source of the sound just in time to see the girl in red bouncing towards her. Ruby almost managed to contain all the red colored liquid in the wine glass she was holding in her left hand.

"Darn it Ruby, be careful! You're going to spill that everywhere." Weiss scolded. "Seriously untie me and lets get home before whoever lives here comes back. Also, where did you even take us anyway?" Weiss had no time for games and from her brief look around it was clear to her that this was not a hotel room but someone's bedroom.

"Shh, don't worry about it. See look they're not gonna mind." With a small giggle Ruby shifted to the side, giving Weiss a view of the front of the room. What she saw there horrified her.

Laying on the floor against the doorframe were two people. They were pale, motionless, and had deep cuts on their necks. Weiss had been around long enough to recognize corpses when she saw them.

She recoiled as far as she could as the girl with the wine glass continued to scoot towards her. In that moment she recognized what was wrong with her. This was not Ruby. Ruby was dead, the soul that made her who she was had long since vanished.

This was a soulless monster wearing the body of her best friend.

"What's wrong Weiss?" She said with a chilling smile. "I've got a present I want to give you." Her hand lifted the glass to Weiss as she spoke. When it got to her face Weiss could smell the crimson contents. It was a smell she knew all too well. Blood, it was blood.

"Trust me Weiss, I enjoyed it too."

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**So this is the longest chapter I've written thus far. Just over 6500 words.**

**Its interesting though how much gets cut from the final product. For example there's a deleted scene where Carmilla meets and kills a young woman. I was originally going to place that after Ozpin's bit to show how evil she was. I was worried that I had gone to far in my attempts to humanize her. But in the end I decided that having someone die then would diminish the impact of Ruby's quadruple murder.**

**As always I love hearing what you guys think. So shoot me a review.**

**I hope you guys enjoyed this one.**


	8. Chapter 8

In the lobby at the base of Beacon's central tower sat Blake and Yang. The purple and green cushioned chairs offered a surprising amount of comfort and support and if it were not for the situation at hand, Blake would be struggling not to slip into a nap right then and there.

A chime sounded from the central elevator as the metal doors slid open. Blake and Yang stiffened up as the two armored Beacon security guards emerged followed closely by the gurneys pushed by a pair of coroners. Draped in white sheets, the gurneys transported the two fallen guards through the eerily silent hall. Outside the security force lined up, ready to honor their comrades.

After the procession left the pair of girls were left alone in silence, Blake stared at her hands while Yang gingerly held her sister's folded up scythe in her arms.

Blake's trance was broken by the sound of Yang rising to her feet. She spun her gaze over to Yang as the blonde spoke up.

"Its messed up you know? All of it. Blake she didn't even take her scythe with her. Ruby was never without it. She called it her sweetheart for pete's sake, and yet she ran off without it, only stopping to kidnap Weiss."

She plopped down into a chair opposite Blake, a sorrowful look across her face as she laid her sister's possession across her lap. "She told me once that she believed our weapons were an extension of ourselves." A small laugh escaped her lips. "I wonder what that says about her. She chose a weapon whose original purpose was the harvest grain. In the beginning this was meant to do something good. A scythe helped people, it allowed them to harvest food to feed the hungry." Yang laughed once again. "Oh but my little sister, always the engineer, always the dreamer. She takes this simple tool and attaches a gun to it. Now all its good for is killing. All it does is take lives."

"Yang please." Blake reached forward, resting her hand on the red metal.

Standing up once again, Yang tossed the scythe onto the chair behind her. She turned towards the exit and just stared. "I don't know what to do Blake. What am I supposed to do? I let that thing just take Weiss and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Now Ruby is gone and we know what's going to happen to Weiss. I can't keep losing people Blake!"

"Don't do this to yourself Yang."

"I don't know if I can do this. Why must I be so powerless to protect the people I love. Someone did this to my own little sister and there was nothing I could to save her. Now Weiss has been taken who knows where for the same fate and there's nothing we can do to save her. But even then, what's it matter? If we save Weiss, what then? Ruby's gone. My little sister is gone and this thing is walking around with what's left of her."

"I can't answer that for you. But I still need you, Weiss still needs you."

"Maybe," Yang's eyes were wide when she spun around and looked at Blake. "Maybe there's still some of Ruby left inside her. Maybe there's a way to reach her!"

"Yang stop!" Her voice was firm and forceful. "Please Yang just stop. Look at this, look at everything that has happened. Two people are dead Yang. Do you think even for a moment that she could do this if there was even a trace of our Ruby still inside her? She's gone Yang."

"No!" Yang shouted as she marched towards the exit. "I refuse to except that. As long as she is still here I will find a way to bring my sister back."

"Yang wait."

"Blake stop. Please Blake, don't you dare try to stop me." Sorrow filled her voice. "Don't you dare. I couldn't handle you doing that to me."

* * *

Weiss huddled on the carpeted floor between the large bed and the wall. Although she was no longer bound, she was still a prisoner. Her freedom cut off by the creature in the kitchen, the one that called her friend. Friends don't kidnap each other, and friends don't turn each other into monsters. That is what she was now, or at least what she will be, a monster, the same kind of monster that was currently making a racket in the kitchen with a pair of bodies.

After a series of random crashing noises Ruby came bounding into the bedroom with a guilty look on her face.

"So Weiss I may have made a huge mess in the kitchen," she said as she sat on the bed.

'_This murder is talking to me like she just spilled some milk. Unbelieveable.'_ Thought Weiss.

"You see I wanted to put those bodies in the fridge like they do in the movies, ya know so they don't smell so I pulled everything out and tried to shove them in but it turns out they're really really heavy and there's not much room in the fridge." Ruby took a deep breath to recover from her rambling. "So now there's food everywhere and two dead people halfway in a fridge and I don't what to do Weiss."

'_Even in this state she still acts like a child who's afraid of getting in trouble with her parents.'_

"What do you expect me to know!" Weiss snapped. "Do you think I have much experience dealing with bodies!"

"I'm sorry Weiss," she said softly. "I know I'm not very good at this, thing. This is all kinda new to me. But don't you worry Weiss," She said with growing excitement. "Ruby Rose is gonna figure out everything we need to know about our new superpowers!" Ruby then leaped to her feet. "You just concentrate on getting used to all this stuff. I know its a lot to take in, but don't you worry I'm gonna be there with you every step of the way. When you're ready you can help me show Yang and Blake how absolutely cool this all is. Soon team RWBY will be back together and super awesome!"

* * *

Following Ruby's escape and kidnaping of Weiss, professor Ozpin insisted that the remaining members of team RWBY be moved to a secure location for their own safety.

Fortunately for Goodwitch, Ozpin did not agree with James notion that the most secure location available would be the general's airship. During their meeting Ironwood made a compelling case for transferring the girls into his care. He argued that what better place to hide from someone who can walk through walls than thousands of feet in the air behind an army, failing to take into account that the girl in question could fly.

Soon after Weiss's kidnaping Blake and Yang were transported to a remote brick cabin in the Emerald Forest. It was a simple two story abode built long before Ozpin's tenure as headmaster as a training outpost. Thick walls and barred windows rendered the cabin impervious to all but the most powerful of grimm attacks.

Once there was a defensive clearing cut into the forest encircling the stone structure, allowing grimm no cover or hidden approach to the cabin. But as the years passed on, the safe haven fell into disuse and the artificial clearing was soon consumed by the forest. Trees and thick underbrush encroached on the cabin, enveloping it, hiding it from the world. A lone structure in the woods, forgotten in time, a perfect hiding spot.

A perfect place for Ozpin to store two children in need of protection. Someone of course needed to watch over the pair, and that duty fell to Goodwitch.

Unfortunately for Goodwitch, the news of protective custody did not sit well with Yang. Just waiting around while people she cared about were in danger went against everything Yang stood for. More importantly, it made her feel like a victim, someone to be protected.

This lead to a heated argument between the professor and her student. Yang argued that, "just sitting around is what lead to Weiss being taken in the first place." A sentiment that, while Goodwitch could sympathise with it, but not fully agree with.

Goodwitch knew that miss Xiao Long was too young and inexperienced to fully understand the situation at hand. Staying put and biding their time until a solution could be found was their best chance to help her teammate.

Luckily miss Belladonna was much more understanding and level headed than her partner. Blake reacted to her confinement in the Emerald Forest in a more solemn state. As the hours ticked by Blake turned her attention to reading and occasionally keeping her partner's agitation in check.

After arriving at their hideout the trio of huntresses went about the task of clearing out the long decayed furnishings. The first floor consisted of a single room with a fireplace on the right hand side, a kitchen with counter space ancient looking oven and broken down refrigerator to the left, and a pair of couches and a coffee table in the center. Those couches were the first to go.

Yang hurled the decomposing couches deep into the woods, but not before she heard what might have been something living in said couches. The mission at hand served to keep her mind occupied and away from her sister's situation.

Once they were finished disposing of the furniture on the lower level they moved onto the second floor. Much like the previous one, this level also consisted of a single room. Blake quickly surmised from what was left of the files of rotten wood and fabric that this was once the bedroom.

That was how they spent the first afternoon at their safehouse. They spent hours turning that rundown shack into a place that was "somewhat liveable" as Goodwich put it.

By the time night began to fall Blake and Yang had moved on to gathering enough wood to light the cabin's fireplace. During their cleaning Blake even managed to uncover an old ax that was perfect for the job.

Yang channeled her frustrations into each swing of the ax into the logs they gathered. Even though they had already prepared more than enough firewood for their needs, after each strike Blake would place a fresh log upon the tree stump Yang was using as her station. Her heavy breathing, the sweat dripping down her face, the primal yell marking each swing, Blake recognized the signs of someone desperately needing to release the pent up rage and frustration inside her. So there she was, piling up split log after split log, just to be there for her friend.

The hypnotic repetition of placing, cutting, stacking, and repeating was abruptly interrupted by the voice of Goodwitch calling out to them. Their professor stood in the cabin's doorway with a bedroll under one arm as she spoke.

"Okay children, the cooler is in the kitchen and please try to control your appetites. Communications are terrible this deep. So if we have to resupply early because you two can't understand rationing, you'll be the ones hiking until you can contact Beacon and ask for more."

"Gotcha professor." Yang energetically called back.

"By the way girls," the professor said as she turned and passed back into the cabin,

"the second floor is mine. You two can sleep downstairs."

* * *

After an exhaustive afternoon filled with much trial and error, some of included carpets, couches, and some pancake batter, Ruby came to the conclusion that hiding the pair of bodies was not going work. So declared that Weiss and her were going to need someplace else to hang out for the time being, and with Ruby being short on lien it fell to Weiss to pay for the hotel room.

The Highgreen Regency, it's emerald spire shown brilliantly against the bland brown and grey buildings of downtown Vale. With big puppy dog eyes and a torrent of "please"s Ruby begged Weiss to let them stay there. To Weiss, Ruby did not appear to be fully grasping the intricacies of the kidnaper, kidnappie relationship.

Ruby wanted to see what it was like to stay in such an extravagant place with "bellhops, fancy silverware, a consegnare, and a special kitchen that will bring fresh food to your room anytime you want," as Ruby so energetically put it. Of course it was not like Weiss could refuse her. The young huntress deduced it would be in her best interest to go along with whatever the psychotic soulless vampire wanted to do.

Weiss booked the room using a corporate card her father had given her, this allowed her to purchase items and services without them needing to have her name attached. This unfortunately made Weiss's goal of being rescued more difficult as this reservation would not appear on her personal purchase history that the authorities were most certainly monitoring. If she wanted her friends to find her, Weiss knew she would have to get creative.

Per Ruby's insistence the pair received a room located on the highest floor of the atrium, twenty-two stories up with a breathtaking view of Vale's downtown. There may have been rooms on higher floors, but the excitable young Ruby always wanted to stay in a hotel with an open atrium.

"Wow Weiss, this is so cool!" Exclaimed Ruby as she leaned precariously over the railing outside their new room. "Look at the shandileer, its like an exploding sun! Or the fountain down there, can you believe they have a fountain in here!"

Weiss cautiously eyed the energetic girl from the open doorway. This situation was nothing she was ever prepared for. Growing up as someone of her status, she was made to sit through many presentations from the head of corporate security about kidnapping. Those presentations always told her the same things, "spend your time building a relationship with the kidnapper, do not let them see you as a threat, and do exactly as they tell you." Somehow though, the one time Weiss finds herself kidnapped, all those rules are thrown out the window.

Of course she already has a relationship with the kidnapper, the kidnapper was currently under the impression that the two of them are on a fun weekend in the city. This girl is an immortal huntress, in no way could Weiss be a threat to Ruby. Accomplishing these goals was supposed to ensure her safety, yet so far it was not at all helping because there she was, sharing a room with a merciless killer.

* * *

Ozpin tried his best to remain active in the search for miss Schnee and miss Rose, however after the discovery of two more victims within the city, the Vale police department started their own investigation into the slayings. With four people dead the media was now running with stories about a new sinister serial killer in the city. Detailed psychological profiles and criminal experts constantly adorned people's television sets. The media induced panic left the headmaster unable to influence quickly escalating situation.

After sending the local police a description of their suspect, Ozpin spun around his office chair to face Ironwood who was patiently awaiting the headmaster to finish his work.

"Ozpin," Ironwood started, "I trust your judgment, but not including miss Rose's name in your report to the police does not appear to be the wisest of moves. I believe it would be prudent to let the police know who they should be looking for."

"To what end? You and I both know that the police do not have the resources or the abilities to capture or kill miss Rose. Initiating a full scale manhunt will only lead to more deaths." Responded Ozpin. "Furthermore, I refuse to have Ruby's name forever remembered as one of this kingdom's most vicious serial killers."

"Then what? Do you expect us to just sit around and wait while more innocent people are killed? Said Ironwood, frustration seeping into his voice.

"Look james," Ozpin said in his calm demeanor, "we just need to bide our time just a little longer. Oobleck and the medical staff are already starting to see progress in modifying existing anti-grimm toxins to target the infection. If we can just manage the situation until they finish we will not only be able to kill Karnstein and miss Rose, but treat miss Schnee as well.

"I hope you're right about this Ozpin." Ironwood replied in a sorrowful tone. "For all our sakes."

* * *

If this were any other situation Weiss would have stoutly refused to be in an establishment such as this. Thunderous dance music, twirling and flashing lights, and the close proximity to sweat drenched strangers was close to giving her a headache. Ruby was not content to spend her "partners weekend" inside their expensive hotel suite; to the heiress's dismay Ruby insisted they experience Vale's nightlife.

As she put it to Weiss earlier with her typical barely contained excitement "Its gonna be so much fun Weiss. There'll be dancing and music and cute boys. You'll love it!"

Unfortunately this meant being inside the crowded nightclub.

The pair breezed their way past the bouncer with merely a smile and a please from Ruby. Weiss figured she was using the same mind altering semblance that Ruby used on her. Once inside Weiss swiftly surveyed the scene, looking for any exits or ways to escape. Ruby caught on quickly however and pulled her friend into a close dance. She leaned in and spoke with a sinister grin upon her face.

"Don't be a party pooper Weiss. We were just getting started with our fun. Man if you ran off I don't know what I would do." Ruby then made a show of looking around the room before closing the distance between them and whispering into Weiss's ear. "Who knows how many people might be 'accidently' hurt or worse if you run off and leave me all alone." Ruby pulled back from a stunned Weiss with a smile full of glee.

"Oh!" Ruby exclaimed. "Let's get something to drink!"

She lost track of how long she and Ruby danced, or in her case watch Ruby do something akin to having a seizure while Weiss herself maintained some form of rhythm and decorum.

Afterwards Weiss positioned herself on a stool along the bar. She briefly contemplated slipping a note to the bartender informing her she was kidnapped, but decided against it. Who knows how Ruby would react to a direct confrontation. Weiss looked back to see Ruby flirting a guy in his twenties. The vampire swayed her hips to the music and batted her eyelashes while trying to make small talk. Under normal circumstances Weiss was certain that Ruby would be in no danger of being successful in such an endeavor, but these were not normal circumstances.

In a frantic pace Weiss tried desperately to come up with a plan to escape and stop the vampire from claiming another victim. All these people around her, none of them knew she was a hostage in plain sight. If she tried to run, so many of them would fall from that creature's rage.

As she scanned the room it hit her, it may not have been a way to stop Ruby, but it was a way to let her friends know where to find her. She grabbed a tall fresh drink and reached into her pocket to retrieve a thin plastic card.

A group of rambunctious women stood at a table near the bar celebrating and drinking. Two of them were actively recording the festivities with their scrolls. Without warning a girl dressed in white slammed into one of the women splashing her drink all over the rest of the group. Weiss staggered backward and started drunkenly screaming at the group.

"How, how dare you!" Weiss stumbled backward before stabilizing herself and yelling again. "You bitches! All of you are bitches." By now more people started paying attention to the seemingly inebriated girl in white cussing out the relatively peaceful group of women.

Weiss grabbed an unattended drink off the bar and threw it's contents all over the group, causing a torrent of incoherent screaming to erupt between them.

"I'm Weiss Shnee, the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company." Weiss declared, waving her arms about, as she got into the face of one of the girls recording. "What are you going to do about it?" With a loud huff spun on her heels to strut away, only to end up face to face with a rather large man wearing a shirt that said "Security" across the front.

Never before had Weiss been quite literally thrown out of an establishment. That week was most certainly full of firsts for her, none of them in a good way. She looked back at the club and sighed. Assuming it worked, explaining this to her father was going to be a memorable experience.

Even outside there was still a cacophony of noise emanating from the dance club. Weiss knew that at Beacon or anywhere else for that matter it would have been a wonderful night to be outside. The air was still and the sky was as clear as it could be with the shattered moon hanging high in the sky.

"Weiisss." Ruby's call from the darkness broke Weiss from her thoughts. Weiss missed it, but somehow during her commotion Ruby slipped out of the club. The girl in red stood half concealed in the shadow of the alleyway adjacent to the club, her smiling face, glowing against the darkness.

Weiss approached as Ruby waved her over, her legs wobbling out of fear as she neared the vampire. She knew that child like smile hid something sinister.

After Ruby lead her around the corner, what she saw there made her freeze in shock. Slumped down, hidden behind a foul dumpster was the boy Ruby was flirting with earlier. His slow breaths and gash on his neck told Weiss everything she needed to know about unconscious boy.

As much as it horrified and disgusted her, Weiss found herself transfixed by the bleeding young man. It's vivid crimson color, the way it pulsed and flowed, oozing from his flesh like a fresh spring. She could not look away, she did not want to look away. It was there, alls he had to do just be closer. To feel it, to taste it, it's wonderful euphoric flavor. Warmth flowing all over her form.

Weiss threw herself off the young man to the cold ground. With a constant series of rapid breaths she scurried to the wall behind her. She could not speak, her head spun with conflicting thoughts and emotions. Such a rush she never felt before, yet so unspeakably horrible. She could only stare at him, slumped there, barely alive.

Stepping in between the two blocking her view was the giggling form of Ruby. "A little much for your first time? Don't you worry Weiss, it just takes practice. You'll get the hang of it."

Upon receiving only a blank stare, Ruby smirked and leaned in closer. "Well if you're done lets head back to the hotel, I'm thinking cartoon marathon." Ruby then turned around and casually snapped the young man's neck before strolling out of the dark alley.

* * *

Inside their cabin deep within the Emerald Forest, Yang stared into the crackling fire while Blake watched from a distance. Yang's behavior was troubling her partner. She seemed distant, preferring to spend her time in solitude. But what was most concerning to Blake was the way she had taken to wearing her sister's sniper scythe across her back like a fashion accessory.

Blake watched as Yang sat staring into the fireplace, the unknown thoughts running through her partner's head worried her to no end.

It took some gentle coxing but Blake eventually to lay in one of the sleeping mats and try to get some rest. Blake stayed awake for a time, just watching her partner as she slowly drifted off to sleep.

Something was wrong. Blake blamed it on her huntress instincts stepping in to wake her from her slumber. She bolted upright and scanned the room. The place next to her that should have held a sleeping Yang was empty. She hoped her conclusion was wrong, she desperately hoped it was.

But from where she left it by the fire before bed it was gone, Yang took Crescent Rose with her. Yang had taken the scythe, she was going after Ruby.

* * *

Through the dark forest Yang marched. She was on a mission and she was not going to let anything get in her way. She had to find Ruby first, she knew she had to find a way to get through to her. She did not know how she was going to do it, but she could not abandon her sister.

The shattered moon bathed the clearing in front of her in ghostly light. an unsettling silence fell upon world as she stood in the center. The only noise came from the circle of trees around her moving with the breeze.

She was not alone.

"Now now, if you're about to do what I think you're gonna do..."

Yang spun around to face the owner of the sinister voice.

"... I would suggest otherwise."

Standing before her with her jet black hair and deep blue eyes the speaker smirked.

"Hello, you must me Little Rose's big bad sister. I guess its time for us to finally meet."

* * *

**Author's notes: **

**I was planing on making this longer but since it had been so long since an update I decided to cut the next chapter in half and give you this bit. So I guess I'm delaying the grand finale until next time. Enjoy.**


	9. Chapter 9

In the circular clearing bathed in soft moonlight stood two figures. One was young, fueled by anger and love, driven by passion. The other, immeasurably old, her intentions clouded. As the breeze pushed waves across the deep grass, the pair stood silent, taking in the sight of the other.

The blue eyed woman clad in back with even blacker hair waited with crossed arms for Yang's response. From her professors' descriptions Yang knew who this woman was, she was the one who took her sister away from her. All that was happening, it was her.

Yang marched through the waist-high grass towards Carmilla, a singular thought burning in her mind, destroy.

An amused Carmilla smirked as the blonde approached her. She folded her arms and began to speak. "I know what you're trying to do kid. But it doesn't take a genius to get that your leader is planning on turning all three of her little gal pals into more vampires. So you'll forgive me for not wanting a population explosion going on, the last thing I need is a bunch of immature brats run..."

A wild bone crushing punch silenced Carmilla's spiel. Being caught off guard she was launched backwards into the grass. Yang continued her purposeful march towards the vampire as Carmilla regained her footing.

"Seriously, what is wrong with Beacon that all you guys do is attack people?" Carmilla yelled as she brushed herself off. She groaned at the sight of Yang's growing rage as the girl closed the distance once again. "Ya know what sweetie, I was just going to give you a little friendly advice about your little club leader or whatever it is you call her."

This plan of her's was growing out of control rapidly. Carmilla hoped that stopping this child would put things back on track. If only Glynda just did what she was supposed to do it would all be over by now, but alas, no. That huntress, the closest person Carmilla had to a friend, was as stubborn and pig headed as ever. Carmilla was almost sad she would have to kill another student because of it. Almost.

Yang threw another hit at Carmilla's face. This time, however; the woman in black was ready for her. Shifting to the side Carmilla grabbed Yang's arm and deflected the hit to open air. Using Yang's momentum against her Carmilla kicked her attacker's leg out from under her and proceeded to fling Yang onto her back.

Before Yang had a chance to leap to her feet, Carmilla was upon her. The vampire pushed her knee with full force into Yang's chest while she leaned forward and wrapped her fingers around the girl's neck.

A toothy grin grew across Carmilla's face as she tightened her grip on Yang's neck. She loved it when they struggled. A kill without a fight left her feeling empty inside, like the sweetest part of her meal was denied.

"Ya know child, its lucky I found you when I did. I'm running a little low and I was feeling a bit peckish."

The girl's struggles to speak despite her rapidly diminishing internal neck space caused a giggle of amusement from Carmilla. They always begged for their life when they had the chance. No matter how many times she did this her meals always pleaded to be spared. She found it adorable really, every one of them thought that if they could just ask nicely enough or put a big enough sob in front that she would have a change of heart and let them go. It never happened, but it was still funny to watch them try.

"What is it?" Carmilla mocked as she leaned closer to hear Yang's words. "Were you trying to say something dear?"

Yang defiantly looked Carmilla in the eyes and coughed out, "I've still got my guns!"

Carmilla's eyes grew wide with realization before simultaneous explosions blasted her chest. The force of the hits sent her flying off Yang before she came crashing back into the grass.

"Seriously what is wrong with you that you start taunting someone before even checking to see if that someone was still armed?" Yang mocked as she sauntered to the fallen vampire before smiling and letting off a volley of shots from her gauntlets.

Seeing the shots coming, Carmilla shifted into a black cloud allowing them to pass through her. She rematerialized adjacent to Yang and proceeded to lash out with her own attacks.

The pair clashed in a chaotic duel. Guns were fired, kicks flew, and the grass grew singed under the moonlit sky.

"There's no need to get so angry blondie." Carmilla said as she reformed several paces behind Yang. "Think about it, with two team members down you're in for a promotion. Hey, maybe you could even take the place of that child to be leader?"

Yang yelled in furious anger as she charged Carmilla, sending forth a flurry of shots from her gauntlets. "She's my sister you bitch!"

Carmilla allowed the shots to pass harmlessly through her as she watched Yang close the distance.

"She's my sister and you took her away from me!" Yang cried out.

Something about the raging blonde resonated with Carmilla. The passion, the anger, and something else. Something in that girl's actions reminded her of an emotion she had not felt in so long.

She was so distracted by her thoughts she did not have time to react to Yang's strike to the side of her face. From her new position lying upon the grass, Carmilla looked into the eyes of the blonde. She knew what that emotion was, it was love. A love for someone, a love so strong it drove this child into an impassioned rage.

"What's your deal anyway?" Yang yelled with anger as she slammed her boot upon Carmilla's chest. She held it there, pinning the vampire to the ground. "I thought you wanted people to turn into vampires, like you did to my sister! What, was the immortal club not large enough for you? Am I not good enough to be in your club? Or is this just how you get your kicks? You go around destroying wonderful people because its fun?"

Carmilla could only stare in stunned silence as Yang continued her tirade. She listened as the young girl unleashed her feelings in a torrent of anger.

"Maybe you think that making them a vampire is a good thing? Huh, like what you're doing to them is a gift? Just because you love being a vampire and running around hurting people doesn't mean that she would! You took her from me!"

"No!" Carmilla cried out as she launched herself upwards in a black cloud, throwing Yang back in the process.

She stood before the child, huffing as rage boiled inside her. This child knew nothing. She assumed so much and she had no business making these assumptions about her.

"You're wrong child!" Carmilla spat back. "This has nothing to do with you or your sister!" The emotions inside her, rising to the surface however, seemed to beg to differ.

'_This girl and her little sister are just pawns in this. What happens to them doesn't matter… Right?_

'_But Little Rose, she's may be condemned to eternity just like I am. It wasn't meant to be like this._

'_No, it doesn't matter. What fate has befallen that child can't be my concern. I need to focus on what I what. What I need.'_

"Then what are you trying to do then!" Yang screamed. "What do you want? Why are you doing this? Do you just enjoy destroying people whose only dream was to help others. People who wanted nothing more than to make the world a better place! Is that what you want?"

"I want to die!" Carmilla blurt out.

She fell to her knees, head hanging low. The outburst came with a wave of relief. "I just want this to be over."

She looked up at Yang who remained standing there in shocked silence before her. Through the eerie calm that befell the forest Carmilla heard the pair of huntresses burst into the clearing. Little Rose's other teammate, and her. Glynda.

When Blake discovered her teammate's absence she collected her instructor and set out after Yang. That was when Goodwitch came upon Carmilla shouting back at the blonde.

Goodwitch heard her confession. Her little witch knew why she was here. Everything was out in the open.

Carmilla sunk lower in the grass. It was all over. She was done.

She turned her gaze towards Glynda, the one who truly understood her. "I just… I just wanted it to stop. Everything, all of this. I'm tired of people disappearing, time takes them away and I just stay the same. I'm tired being alone and having the only connection I can make is through killing. I'm tired of life not having any meaning. Its like I blink my eyes and years fly by.

"I want this to stop, but it can't. I've searched and I've searched but nothing can end this hell. But then I met you Glynda. You're beautiful and smart and with the resources of Beacon I thought that maybe you could find a way. I don't know why I couldn't just go to you. I guess I was afraid that there wouldn't be a way to end this. That you could fail."

Goodwitch approached silently, staring down at her. Kneeling down, she spoke as Carmilla averted her gaze, ashamed of herself. "Then why did you infect Ruby?" Goodwitch's voice was leveled and calm, hiding her own anger.

"I thought that maybe if you could watch the transformation process maybe you could understand it more. I figured that you would be so angry at another one of us on your campus you would use everything you had to find a way to kill it. It never even occurred to be that once you found her you would try to save her. I guess I've been so disconnected from people for so long that compassion wasn't something I could foresee."

A sudden hand lightly gripping her shoulder snapped Carmilla's attention back to Yang. The girl's demeanor had calmed as she sat on her knees and looked at her. "Please, if you really don't want your fate to befall anyone else, then help us. Help me save my teammate, the one taken by Ruby. There may still be time to save her. Tell me how to stop my sister."

Carmilla looked up into those lilac eyes, for the first time she could remember, someone was pleading with her, not for her own life, but the life of another.

"You can't. There's no way to stop her." She replied with sadness in her tone. "Like I said, there's no way to kill one of us."

"Let me worry about that. Just tell me how to get past her defences."

Carmilla let out a long sigh. There was no point in hiding anything now. None of it mattered anyway. She knew it did not make any difference what they knew.

After several moments of silence, Carmilla finally spoke. "Her semblances. They're the key."

"Yes I know her new semblances make her more powerful. Just tell me how to get past them." Yang replied.

"No child. What I'm trying to say is that her semblances, they're her weakness."

Yang leaned back from the woman, unsure of what to make of her statement. The cryptic responses this vampire was giving was trying Yang's patience.

Seeing the girl's confusion, Carmilla started again. "Aura is the source behind all semblances. It powers them, controls them. Without aura there are no semblances."

"I'm a huntress, I know this." Yang snapped.

Carmilla rolled her eyes and continued. "Most importantly, aura is the soul made solid. Aura is the soul flowing through and around us. When you activate your own aura child, that's your soul manifesting, bringing it's influence upon the world.

"Our kind, we lack a soul. We can't bring an aura of our own into the world. But all living things need an aura to live. That's why we feed. We take the aura from others to replace our own. Why do think I, or your sister for that matter, don't use weapons? Weapons are conduits for aura, for the soul. Using weapons like huntsmen would drain what little aura we have to quickly, and that's the key. When we run low on aura we must feed to replenish it. Normally that would not be an issue, but in combat that becomes more tricky.

"Her semblances require aura, some more than others. A prolonged fight, one that forces her to faze through attacks and transform her body, will drain her aura much faster. But be warned. As she becomes helpless, she will become more viscous, more animalistic.

"That's really all I can tell you. If I knew of any true weakness I would have used them on myself long ago."

Yang contemplated what she was told, allowing it all to sink in.

"Thank you." Those words made Yang sick to her stomach. As much as she hated this woman, she needed her help to save Weiss, and maybe somehow, Ruby.

* * *

Professor Goodwitch was not happy with Yang to say the least. Being awoken in the middle of the night to chase after the runaway student, who she was supposed to be protecting, was not how she wanted to spend her confinement.

After their encounter with Carmilla, Yang was treated to a long lecture from Goodwitch about once again putting the lives of those around her at risk. Goodwitch did not take kindly to students who refused to follow orders, or worse, disobey her orders.

After scolding miss Xiao Long, there was the matter of what to do with Carmilla. Of all the things Goodwitch thought she had to deal with, taking this vampire into custody was not on her list. With few other options she made the decision to bring Carmilla in for questioning. Custody did not appear to be the right term when applied to a being who can walk through walls. This course of action, unfortunately, entailed miss Belladonna and Xiao Long accompanying her back to Beacon. Not the lesson she wished to teach the rebellious young huntresses.

When the group arrived back at the academy Ozpin insisted that Carmilla be moved to his office. The professor believed there was no point in locking their guest away in an observation room. This woman would only remain in their care as long as she permitted it. As for security, Ozpin did not see the benefit in assigning a detail to the woman. If their experience with miss Rose was anything to go by, attempting to detain her with guards would only lead to senseless deaths.

After arriving back at Beacon, Yang and Blake were instructed to remain in the lobby outside Goodwitch and several other professors' offices. With their lives still at risk Goodwitch would not let them stay somewhere unsecure like their dorm, and with classes starting soon, allowing the pair to traverse the academy grounds would place the other children at risk.

Blake flipped through a magazine while analyzing her teammate. She knew how difficult this whole situation must be for Yang, her sister was now a soulless monster who has killed people and taken a teammate. Yet always being the strong one Yang refused to show it, or at least made a valiant effort at it. She sat curled up on a sofa opposite Blake, nose buried in her scroll, distracting herself from the world. Left to her own devices, Blake was sure that Yang's stress would kill the poor girl.

The couch creaked as Blake shifted her weight back into it's surface. It was days like this where the stress felt to her like a million bricks on her shoulders. At that moment however, she refused to let it show. She needed to be strong for Yang, a girl whose entire world was crashing down around her.

Sunlight soon began streaming into the large office, it's warm rays setting Yang's hair a glow. Blake continued to watch as Yang flipped through page after page on her scroll in a feverish pace. Yang's face scrunched up as she pulled the small device close to her face; recognition flashed across her face.

"Blake," Yang's taut tone cut through the silence. "You have to see this."

* * *

"What did you discover Glynda?" Ozpin's powerful tone echoed through Goodwitch's office as he entered the room. Due to his previous dealings the headmaster was the last one to arrive after Goodwitch somonce. Yang and Goodwitch stood opposite each other leaning over the professor's desk, looking over a map on it's surface. Ironwood and Oobleck halted their discussion the moment Ozpin entered, while Blake continued to stand silently against the back wall, observing the situation.

"Not me professor," replied Goodwitch, "It was miss Xiao Long." She said gesturing to Yang.

"Um… Right!" Yang grabbed Goodwitch's large scroll adjacent to her off the table and rushed over to Ozpin. "After we got back from kicking that vampire's ass I was waiting outside her office and I found this video online." She held the device up to Ozpin's face and tapped the screen, playing the video in question.

Ozpin's eyes narrowed upon seeing the title of the video, _Ritch bitch has freakout in club._ "Someone captured a video of Weiss last night," explained Yang, "the description says she was at a club in downtown Vale."

As the video played it appeared to Ozpin as if it was recorded on someone's scroll, it featured the heiress screaming at various club patrons while waving her arms around like a mad woman. "I understand what you are trying to do Yang, unfortunately this does not do us much good," said Ozpin. "In fact we were already well aware that the pair were at a club last night as we discovered their latest victim outside one." He hated crushing the girl's hope like that, but the police were already searching the area for clues and knowing where Ruby was did not help them in finding her current location.

"No," Yang cut in, "look again. Here I'll show you." She slid her fingers across the scroll's surface before pausing it. "Look," she said as she shoved the device back in his face. The image was a still of Weiss yelling at a someone just off screen, her hands thrown up in enfasis.

"I don't…" Ozpin started before Yang cut him off.

"In her hand, see it, look at what she's holding."

He leaned in closer. In Weiss's hand she held a single white card with a arborous logo.

"Its a hotel keycard," said Yang. "Weiss is sending us a message. She's telling us where they are."

"Sir we tracked that logo down to The Highgreen Regency," explained Goodwitch. "There is currently a room registered to a Schnee Dust company card. The check in lines up with when the pair went missing. With your permission sir I'd like to send a team in go apprehend them."

"What makes you think you can?" Ozpin questioned. "Ruby has already killed five people, what makes you think you can apprehend them?"

"Ah well," Oobleck energetically cut in. "The medical team, well we think we have something that could work. Now I would like to spend more time on this but as Goodwitch pointed out earlier we don't know how much longer the pair will stay where they are. Anyway the team has put together something I think you're really going to like. See its a chemical compound that bonds to the grimm cells delivering an amazingly powerful toxin. Its quite brilliant if I don't say so myself. Now, when injected it should attack and kill the cells with extreme prejudice leaving the host cells relatively intact." Sensing the concerned looks he was getting from the way he emphasised _relatively_ Oobleck decided it was best to explain. "As long as we get miss Schnee prompt medical care she should be fine."

"What about my sister?" Silence fell upon the room at Yang's question. "You said that Weiss would be okay but what happens to Ruby? Tell me, what happens to my sister when she gets this toxin thing in her?"

"Well um…," Oobleck nervously started. "You see a living body is not like a grimm, it requires a soul to stay alive. Without one a body would just die. If we destroy those grimm cells that have invaded Ruby's body, well, her body will die too."

Yang angrily shook her head and stormed towards the back of the office, gripping the windowsill in both fists and staring out the window.

Goodwitch then spoke to Ozpin in a more subdued tone. "This is the best shot we are ever going to have. If we don't act now more people will die."

"Alright," Ozpin said with a nod. "Get what you need, you have one hour."

"We're coming too." stated Yang as she turned back to the group.

"Absolutely not," commanded Goodwitch.

"No she's right," interrupted Blake, "we have to go. Its very likely that Ruby is planing in infecting all the members of her team. Well, we're it. She's probably going to kill anyone you send after her. Yang and I have a chance, we can get close to them. We are the best chance you have at stopping them. You need us. We are going." The look in Blake's eyes were clear, she was not asking, she was telling.

Ozpin paused for a moment, studying the girls. "Suit up."

* * *

The Highgreen Regency, a spear of emerald slicing into the Vale sky, still visible from the parking structure turned into an impromptu command center. Yang and Blake stood amongst the various police officers and Beacon professors in the damp cavernous concrete building. The young pair leaned against the cold metal railing overlooking the passing cars below while the police and huntsmen studied maps unfurled on car hoods. A sense of haste filled the air as officers coordinated the quiet evacuation of the hotel. As the last pieces were put in place, Yang and Blake could only stand and wait, dark unsertency growing deep inside them.

"Do you think she's still in there?" Blake's question broke Yang from her thoughts. "There's no way  
Ruby hasn't noticed this. Masters of subtlety these guys are."

Yang could not help but smirk at Blake's jab. "This much excitement, there's no way Ruby would miss this. She could never run away from a fight. Not that she loved the violence, no Ruby could never turn down fun. And this, well we've given her a stage and an audience. This is exactly the grand finale she's been hoping for."

"I hope you're right Yang, I really do."

"Girls," professor Goodwitch called, gesturing for the pair to approach her by the car.

As Blake and Yang neared her they were joined by a man wearing a white suit carrying a grey briefcase. He opened it to reveal a pair of large silver pen shaped devices.

"Yang and Blake," Goodwitch started, "I'd like you to meet Doctor Wu, he has been working with professor Oobleck on the infection."

The pair of girls nodded in acknowledgement as the doctor laid the open case on the car hood.

"Nice to meet you two," said Wu. "These are a pair of injectors with carefully measured doses for both miss Rose and miss Schnee." Wu pointed to each device as he said the girls' names. "Simply pull the back to extend the piston, this will arm the injector. Then press it firmly to the subject's chest, right over the heart, and push the top of the piston. That will activate the pneumatically system within the injector driving a hypodermic needle into the subject's heart releasing the toxin. It will be most effective if delivered to the heart so the toxin can be spread through the body as quickly as possible. Any questions?"

Yang shook her head as Blake scooped up the injectors."Directly to the heart, got it," said Blake.

"Well if that is all," started Goodwitch, "I would recommend you two make your move."

"Okay, let's do this." Said Yang in an unusually claim tone. "Just have your people wait to burst in."

"When will they know to enter?" Questioned Goodwitch.

"I assume it will be a 'you'll know it when you see it sorta deal,'" Yang retorted as she made for the exit.

* * *

Yang and Blake entered the hotel through a pair of revolving doors. Artificial lighting filled the towering atrium with a white hue. Just beyond the ornate entranceway flanked by the consegnare and the front desk, the room opened up into the grand atrium itself. In the center of the ground floor lie modest fountain, a single jet of clear water shooting skyward and crashing down into the star shaped pool beneath. Above hanging from a golden chain was a massive glowing orb covered in countless spires jutting out from it's surface. This gold chandelier hung beneath the highest level of the atrium and cast a modest glow from high above.

As the last of the stragalers filed past, Yang cast her gaze upward. Even from her place far below she could see a figure in red standing on the highest level, looking down at them. A simple nod was the only communication needed between the partners as they made their way towards the trio of glass elevators that climbed an outcropping to their right.

Yang adjusted the folded scythe across her back as she and Blake silently waited for the elevator. The scythe's size and weight was foreign to Yang and would only make fighting more difficult, but inside her, she knew it was something she needed to carry with her, if only as a reminder. With a simple chime the elevator doors slid open and the pair entered the glass enclosure.

"Give me Ruby's," Yang said, breaking the silence of the ride.

Blake knew immediately that Yang was referring to the injectors. "Yang no," Blake protested. She could not let her friend do that to herself. "Let me handle this Yang."

"It has to be me," Yang replied.

"Yang cut it with this 'she's my sister' crap! You don't have to be the one to do this."

"That's not it Blake. I have to do it because you can't." Yang let out a sigh. "I can't wake up each morning with you being the one who killed my sister. Don't do that to me, please."

Yang's eyes stared back into Blake's. The girl in yellow pleading with her.

"Okay," Blake relented as she handed over the injector.

"Thank you. You get Weiss and get her out of here. I'll handle Ruby."

With another chime the elevator doors slid open, it was time.

The mood was tense as Yang and Blake traversed the hallway, Ruby watching as they made their way around to face her. The pair came to a halt as they came around the corner. Ruby stood grinning at them while Weiss stood behind her. Fear filled Weiss's eyes as the pair approached.

"Hey guys!" Ruby chipperly greeted her approaching teammates.

Yang merely stared at Ruby stoically.

"Weiss, are you okay?" Asked Blake.

Weiss only managed to stutter out a few random vowels before Ruby cut her off.

"What about me? Aren't you happy to see me Yang, misses grumpy face over here."

"Don't," Said Yang with anger in her voice. "You're not Ruby, so just shut up."

Ruby gasped in mock shock. "I'm hurt Yang. But you're just saying that. Its me Ruby, your little sister. Ya know what, I just need to show you what this is really like. Its actually a lot of fun. This whole vampire thing is so cool," she continued in an excited tone. "You have to try it."

"Stop!" Yang commanded. "Weiss come here, we've got something to help you." Yang said switching into a soft comforting tone. "And you!" She directed anger back towards the creature in front of her. "My real sister would never have killed those people. You're not her. So we are ending this."

Somewhere in Ruby's head a switch was flipped. Her expression went from childlike innocence to unbridled hatred. "So this is how my sister really acts?" She said as she marched towards Yang. "As long as I'm under your shadow I'm just your loveable sister. But the moment I get real power and skill, well I guess you can't have that now can we? How 'bout I show you this real power!"

Before Yang could react Ruby fazed into a black cloud, passing Yang and materializing behind Blake. Ruby drew a single blade across the side of Blake's neck, a stream of crimson oozed from the wound. Blake spun around to strike her attacker, but Ruby faded away before the strike could connect. The black cloud floated back to where Ruby once stood before coalescing back into the red vampire.

Ruby let out a chuckle as Blake reached up to her wound, assuring herself that her aura already healed it. It was not the reaction from Ruby or even Yang for that matter that concerned her, it was Weiss. Gone was her timid nervous demeanor. Her body stood stiff, her eyes now red focused firmly on Blake. Glancing at her fingertips, Blake's horror was confirmed. Blood.

As small as the cut was, it still bled. That blood just drove the newly created vampire into pure animalistic hunger.

"Weiss," Blake said nervously, in the vain hope of calming the brewing storm before her.

Ruby sent her a toothy grin. "Go get her snowqueen." She said as she gave Weiss a shove towards Blake.

Blake leaped into the air allowing Weiss to crash through the shadow clone she left behind. Landing gracefully on the floor she gave a nod to Yang who then began her match towards Ruby. Blake turned around, drew her weapons, and readied herself for Weiss's attack.

Activating her gauntlets she stood face to face with the grinning girl who was once her sister, but was now only a soulless shell. Yang threw her arm out to strike the girl only for it to pass through the cloud form of the girl. The fight was on.

Punch after punch flew between the pair. Yang adapted her tactics quickly to Ruby's new abilities, managing to connect with several blows. Through the intense melee Ruby landed a few hits of her own. The two ducked and weaved around each other, a pair of fighters, skill and passion driving their violence.

As Weiss charged for a second attack, Blake lashed out with her swords, letting out an arc of energy. Weiss nimbly leaped over the attack, closing the distance and swinging at Blake.

Blake did her best to parry Weiss's blows as she tried to defend herself without harming her friend. She wanted to help Weiss, to bring her home. But in her frenzied state, Weiss was not letting that happen.

A simple lapse in judgment allowed Weiss to gain the upperhand. In a flash Weiss used her immense training to strike at Blake's hand and disarm her of her gun sword. The fencer twirled the stolen weapon around, taking her combat stance. Now she had an even fight.

Every time Yang went for a grab Ruby would pass through her fingers. When she was not matching Yang blow for blow she was a cloud of darkness. For many years the siblings would spar. Each knew the other's moves, but now Ruby had a few new tricks.

Spinning around to dodge a wild kick, Yang left herself open for Ruby to grab her from behind and throw her into the wall. With a bone rattling crash Yang flew through the wall into suite. Ruby was then on her. Fists swinging wildly as Yang rolled out of the way of her relentless attacker. Yang got on her back and let out a mighty kick with both feet landing square in Ruby's chest, launching her from the room.

Even in such a frenzied state Weiss still maintained her poise and precision. Each jab and swing was deliberate and planned. Every defence calculated. Blake called on all her combat experience to match her opponent. Blades smashed together at a lightning pace. Blake rolled under and leaped over incoming swings. Weiss spun and vaulted from glyphs.

After Weiss landed in front of her, Blake smashed her sword into Weiss's. The two held firm, blades locked, red eyes staring into yellow. The sharp of Blake's weapon pressed into the flat of Weiss's.

Blake saw her opening. In a flash grasped the handle of Weiss's weapon with one hand, twisting it, and pulling the trigger. The shots from the gun smashed into Weiss, knocking her back. A spin and a kick and Weiss crashed into the railing overlooking the atrium.

Ruby's powers were weakening fast. Gone was her constant phasing. Now she fought with direct purpose. After climbing out of the wreckage of the suite Yang returned to her assault. Explosions rocked the atrium as she let out with her gauntlets and Ruby violently did her best to end Yang's life.

Yang's explosive gauntlet collided with Ruby slamming her against the wall. In her daze Ruby spied something. Eyes wide she dodged Yang's follow up and bolted towards it.

Blake knelt down next to the groning Weiss as she came too. Beneath the blinking eyelids there was no longer red, but simple blue.

"Hey Weiss, are you back?" Blake asked softly.

Weiss rubbed her aching head and nodded. The bloodlust had passed. For the moment, Weiss was herself again. Blake sheathed her weapons and offered a hand to help her teammate up. Weiss waved her off, rising on her own to a shaking stance.

"You told me you had something that could help?" Weiss asked.

Blake nodded and retrieved the injector. Weiss swiftly snatched the device from Blake's palm and began inspecting it. She was thankful for her friend's persistence in delivering it to her and made a note to mention it at a later date, but at that moment she needed to focus on her own well being.

"Here you have to." Weiss swiftly cut off Blake's explanation.

"I can read the label." Weiss snarked.

Blake took a step back as Weiss leaned against the railing and readied the injector against her chest. She let out a long breath and closed her eyes as she placed her palm over the piston.

"No! Don't!" Came Ruby's cry. Weiss's eyes flew open in time to see the vampire desperately rushing towards her. Without hesitation Weiss slammed down on the piston driving the needle directly into her heart. The cure she so desperately needed flooded into her veins, hunting down and destroying the grimm infecting her.

Weiss's muscles started seizing as the toxin did it's work, leaving her defenceless. Ruby slipped past Blake, crashing into Weiss in her attempt to stop the cure. Right behind her, Yang grabbed Ruby before she could make another move.

In her rigid state Weiss toppled over the railing into the open air below. Blake's heart dropped fell helplessly into the void.

In a flash, Blake and Yang exchanged a look. One that told them exactly what needed to be done. Without a second thought Blake dove after Weiss. Yang pulled back on Ruby, slamming her into the ground.

Her head first plunge allowed Blake to catch the falling girl. With little time to spare Blake tossed out part of her weapon, imbedding it into the side of the atrium. The ribbon attached to it caused the pair to swing into one of the lower floors. Blake twisted her body to take the brunt of the impact, sparing Weiss.

Blake gently pushed Weiss off of her as the pain seeped in. Looking over she saw Weiss beginning to lift herself off the floor. Weiss was okay, and that was all that mattered.

Yang looked down to see Ruby's face, on consumed by terror. No matter what had done, or how many people she hurt, it was still her little sister looking back at her. The same little sister she would play with and read too.

Yang's hesitation gave Ruby the opportunity she needed. With a swift roll Ruby slipped away from Yang, leaping over the railing, slipping into a mist and landing on the golden chandelier.

Sticking her tongue out at Yang, Ruby stood atop the chandelier, hanging on the chain. Yang clenched her fists glared in return. Rushing forwards, Yang fired her gauntlets, launching her out into the atrium.

Yang flew out into the open air, grabbing onto one of the many spires spearing the chandelier. The force of her landing off center started the chandelier rotating, jostling Ruby's perch. Not letting the motion disturb her, Yang punched wildly with her free arm, sending exploding shots through the spires and into the ceiling above.

Shattered decorative ceiling tiles rained down around them as Ruby clenched onto the chain and kicked at the dangling Yang. Catching a boot to the face, Yang slipped backwards almost losing her grip. Retaliating, Yang reached out, grabbing offending boot. With a mighty tug she pulled Ruby free of the chandelier.

Ruby crashed into a railing several levels below. She flopped onto the landing and hastily limped towards the elevators. Yang climbed the remaining spires to the top of the chandelier, giving her the space she needed to launch herself onto one of the higher levels of the atrium. She then descended the outsides of the railings, reaching the floor where Ruby landed.

Racing towards the elevator Yang heard the familiar chime of the doors. Ruby had crossed into the elevator and was making her way down. With no time to lose Yang leaped over the railing, landing on top of the elevator.

Gripping the outside edge Yang swung down crashing through the glass into the descending elevator. Ruby and Yang clashed once again. In the fierce melee Ruby got ahold of Yang's neck, and began slamming it into the side wall. Dazed, Yang kicked off the wall, sending the pair tumbling out of the elevator.

Yang and Ruby smashed into the shallow fountain. Yang coming to rest on her back, making her keenly aware of the large metal object that was Ruby's scythe, strapped to her back. On shaking legs Ruby regained her footing. Yang lashed out with a swift punch to the face, dropping her back into the ankle-deep water.

This was her moment, it had to be. Yang saw Ruby was at her weakest, her most vulnerable. There in her moment to end it, Yang froze. It was her sister, the one she had to kill. That monster, that beast without a soul was her little sister.

The unfamiliar weight of Ruby's precious scythe hung on her back as a reminder. The tool for death was with her in that time of need.

The scythe, a conduit for aura.

Memories flooded back to her. Important clues which fates relied on.

'_Weapons are conduits for aura, for the soul.'_

'_They're extensions of ourselves, they're part of us.'_

'_Our kind, we lack a soul.'_

Too much hurt and too much death was brought about because of this. But no more. Yang knew what she had to try. It had to work, Yang refused to accept anything less.

Yang pulled the piston back on the injector just as Ruby regained her footing. Reaching out Yang grabbed Ruby by the shoulder and jammed the injector onto Ruby's chest, driving the needle into her heart.

Ruby stood with mouth agape, shock took her as realization hit her.

"I love you Ruby." Came Yang's teary response. "I love you so much."

Yang reached behind her back, retrieving the scythe, extending the spear like handle.

"I love you," she said before plunging spear into Ruby's abdomen.

Pouring all her remaining aura through the weapon and into Ruby, the pair collapsed to their knees. Yang silently begged for it to work, for there to be any piece, no matter how small, any bit of her sister left behind.

Ruby let out a piercing scream. A fire burned through her, tearing her apart from within.

Too much death. All of it, pain and death. But Yang refused to let it continue. It would end then and there. If there were any piece of Ruby left behind in her scythe, Yang was going to put it back where it belonged. It had to work, she had to save her sister. Yang would never let it be her hand that killed her.

With the last of her strength gone Yang slumped into the water. Cool water flowed around her. The scream ended, Ruby's body was collapsed next to her own.

As her vision faded, Yang felt slender fingers wrap around her own. The scythe, in that moment a tool of death, brought life.

* * *

The last rays of sunlight streamed through the Vale skyline. Carmilla sat in silence on the edge of Beacon's landing pad, legs dangling over the cliff. The rays of sun burned her skin, but she did not mind. Pain reminded her she was still alive.

The familiar clicking of heels alerted Carmilla to her visitor. Carmilla did not look up or acknowledge her, she knew who it was and what it was about.

Goodwitch came to a halt beside her. The professor's looming figure stared down at her in silent judgement.

"Come on Witch," said Carmilla tapping the area beside her, eyes never leaving the horizon. She was uncharacteristically distant and somber. "Take a seat."

Goodwitch contemplated declining the request. Eventually however, she came to the conclusion that acts of defiance would get her nowhere. Taking the seat, her eyes were glued to the killer beside her, a monster not hunting or feeding, just staring into the setting sun.

"You have it?" Carmilla already knew the answer to her own question. Why else would Goodwitch come to see her? It was time. Time to go.

"Yes," Goodwitch replied blankly. She reached into her jacket and retrieved a single sliver device, passing it on to Carmilla.

"Thank you Glynda." A genuine smile grew across Carmilla's lips. "I know how much you hate me. I guess the way you see things I deserve it. But I really enjoyed our time together." She let out a short laugh. "I know how much you want to do this yourself. But what can I say," Carmilla turned to smile at Goodwitch, "I could never turn down one last chance to screw with you."

Without a moment's hesitation Carmilla pressed the device to her chest and allowed the needle to plunge into her heart.

She laid back on the landing pad and smiled. Her skin cracked, black ghostly vapors rose from her body. Goodwitch watched as time finally caught up with the vampire, her form disintegrating like so many grimm before, leaving nothing behind but her clothes and dust.

Relief filled Goodwitch. A major part of her life was finally over. The ghost that had been haunting her for so many years was gone. She was free.

* * *

Her first feeling was the warm glow of the sun, beating down on her bed. Yang's eyes opened upon a simple hospital room with white walls and curtain around her bed. Her aching body fought her efforts to rise to her feet, but like so many opponents before, it's defeat was inevitable.

Just as she rose to her feet the curtain was thrust back to reveal a familiar girl wearing a black bow.

"Yang!" Blake cried out as she rushed in to support her friend. "You worried me so much! You've been asleep all day. How are you feeling?"

Yang pulled her into a weak hug, her body was still recovering. "I'm okay Blake. I'm okay."

The two separated and stared silently for a moment before Yang spoke. "What about Weiss? What happened to her?"

A thin smile grew across Blake's face. "She'll be okay. Weiss wasn't as banged up as you. She's in the next room. Doctor's thought it was best to keep her secured until they were sure the cure worked. Weiss is being Weiss, harassing the nurses and keeping them busy."

"That's great. Thank you for getting her out. What about Ruby?"

Blake's smile faded. "She'll…" Blake paused to find a better term. "She's…. alive," she said with sadness in her voice. "They're not letting me see her. Goodwitch and Ozpin have her under lock and key in one of the rooms down the hall."

A smile started to grow across Blake's face as she paused.

"We don't know how you did it but she's back. Ruby has her own soul again," genuine happiness filled her as she spoke. "I think it had something to do with Crescent Rose jammed in her when they found her. Whatever you did it was amazing."

Yang pulled Blake into a tight hung. Tears of joy streamed down her face. "Thank you."

"Look Yang, she woke up a little while ago. She may be back but, just go to her. I overheard Ozpin talking to the doctors, Ruby remembers it. She remembers all of it. Everything that creature did, the killings, all of it. Ruby retained those memories. She needs you."

"Okay," Yang said with renewed energy as she gave Blake one last squeeze. With a sense of purpose and and energy she had not felt in a long time Yang bounded towards the door. As she opened it she turned back towards Blake. "Are you coming?"

"Na. You have your moment, I'm gonna go keep Weiss from antagonizing the staff again."

* * *

Determining which room belonged to Ruby was an easy task for Yang. Two uniformed officers stood outside one particular door that also happened to have professor Ozpin nearby discussing matters with a hospital attending.

Upon reaching the room in question Yang was stopped by the officers, the pair was under the mistaken idea that she would let them stand between her and her sister. As she tried to brush past the pair, one of them placed his hand on her shoulder to stop her.

Yang's body tensed, readying itself for the fight to come. Luckily for the officers a clearing throat caught the trio's attention. Ozpin had broken off is discussion and thought it best to intervene.

"It's okay," He started. "She can go in, she's family."

Yang smiled and nodded to Ozpin, her way of thanking him. She reached out and grasped the metal door handle, entering the room.

There she was, her sister. Ruby was on a hospital bed, laying on her side, staring out a window. Ruby did not even acknowledge her visitor, she remained lost in thought. Yang did not know what to do or say. So much had happened and nothing ever prepared her for this.

She strode over to the bed, careful not to alarm her sister. Yang reached out to her sister ready to lay a comforting hand upon her. She stopped, her hand hovering within reach.

"Ruby," Yang spoke, barely louder than a whisper.

Ruby spun around in a flash, her eyes wide as she focused on Yang. The look was not joy or excitement at seeing her sister. What Yang saw in those eyes was fear, fear and shame.

"No, no, no," Ruby muttered repeatedly as she recoiled. Pulling herself back she locked her knees to her chest and cried. "Go away!" She yelled out between tears.

"Ruby," Yang spoke in a motherly tone as she pulled herself onto the bed. "It's okay Ruby. It wasn't your fault, none of it was."

Ruby tried unsuccessfully to shift further away from her oncoming sister. She did not want her sister there. Ruby had hurt so many people, her own friends, her own sister. Gut wrenching guilt twisted inside her and all she wanted to do was hide away from the world. She killed people, and there was no forgiveness for that.

"Ruby." Yang rested a hand under Ruby's chin. "Look at me. I love you. That was not you. It was that thing inside of you. I know it, Blake knows it, even Weiss knows it. Ruby, I know you would never hurt someone. I can not imagine what you are going through right now, whatever it is, I'm right here."

Yang reached her arms around her sobbing sister, gently pulling her into a tender hug. "I love you Ruby, and I will always be there for you." So Yang held her, letting her sister sob into her shoulder. For as long as Ruby needed it, Yang stayed there, holding her.

Eventually the tears ceased. Ruby's arms wrapped around Yang, returning the hug.

"What am I supposed to do?" Ruby's sorrowful tone punched Yang in the gut.

"I don't know Ruby. But whatever happens, we are here for you."

The sisters continued their embrace until the younger slipped off into a blissful sleep. Eventually she would return to the academy she loved and become the very hero she wished to be. She would fight in many more battles in the years to come. For that moment however, in that place, Ruby was at peace because for the first time in a long time, no nightmares troubled her. No monsters, no evil, would disturb her rest. Ruby was safe in her sister's arms.

* * *

**Author's notes: Here it is guys. Sorry for the delay. Life happens. This was a fantastic ride putting this together for you guys and I hope you enjoyed it.**

**Take care and thank you for reading.**


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